An early spring storm raged outside the Valley Fields dome. However, inside the dome, a different type of storm unfolded.
Between the roar of players and cheers of fans, the rain outside went unnoticed as Marquette took the No. 9 ranked Georgetown Hoyas into overtime. But despite the Golden Eagles’ efforts, the Hoyas came out on top 15-14.
“It was an electric atmosphere and game … It was a tough one for us, but I felt we’ve taken a step and gotten better. If you look back at where we were last year, we weren’t even competitive with that team (Georgetown),” Marquette head coach Andrew Stimmel said. “So to look around a year later, I’m really proud of our guys and in the effort they put forth today.”
With its win over Marquette, Georgetown maintains its undefeated Big East run.
Cowan carries Marquette in first quarter
Senior attacker Devon Cowan kicked things off by scoring the first goal of game 36 seconds after the initial face-off.
Despite the Hoyas responding with three uninterrupted goals of their own, Cowan managed to score again to keep the Golden Eagles in the running. With 6:55 left in the first quarter, Cowan secured a hat trick marking the Mount Laurel, New Jersey native single-handedly contributing to all of Marquette’s goals.
“That’s just a small piece of the puzzle,” Cowan said. “All year long this team is putting in an insane amount of work, preparing for these moments and these big games. Those goals wouldn’t have happened without everybody else doing their job.”
In the fourth quarter, Cowan scored a necessary goal to give Marquette a 12-11 lead. He finished with four goals on six shots on net.
First-half frenzy
After Cowan’s hat trick, senior midfielder Jake Stegman posted a goal for Marquette to tie it up 4-4. Georgetown then regained a short-lived lead until sophomore attacker Bobby O’ Grady, who was assisted by Stegman, scored with 15 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Hoyas opened the second quarter with an early goal to put them back in the lead, 6-5.
Both teams were held scoreless for nearly five minutes until Georgetown broke the drought with a goal by Brian Minicus.
The two-point lead for Georgetown didn’t last long, as graduate attacker Jackson Rose scored his first goal of the contest.
Eventually, the Hoyas returned to their two-goal lead, but the Golden Eagles weren’t done yet. A Stegman assist to O’Grady produced a needed goal at 4:39 left in the first half.
Throughout the first half, the two teams were tied at three different occasions.
Georgetown, who entered the afternoon second in the nation in ground balls, was held to just 10 in the first half.
“Our culture here (Marquette), we don’t make anything easy. Even if we don’t come up with it, we make sure that they know that we’re here and we’re not going away easy,” Cowan said. “Those ground balls are a true testament of how much everybody cares about each other, being willing to put their bodies on the line and get their head over the ground ball and come up with it.”
Back-and-forth battle
The Golden Eagles opened the third quarter with a 3-o run to take their first lead of the contest since Cowan’s initial goal in the first quarter.
By the end of the third, Georgetown not only caught up to Marquette, but surpassed it with a goal in the final seconds of the third frame to take an 11-10 lead into the fourth quarter.
Marquette was scoreless for about 13 minutes until first-year attacker Andrew Bowman found the back of the net to even the score at 11-11.
Less than a minute later, Cowan scored his fourth goal of the game which put Marquette in the lead, 12-11 with eight minutes left on the clock. Following the Cowan goal, the Hoyas scored three-straight goals to take back the lead.
Marquette scored twice in the final 62 seconds of regulation to bring the game in overtime.
But the Golden Eagles comeback ran out of steam as the Hoyas scored with 2:48 left in overtime to pull out the road victory.
Stegman builds on assist record
Entering the afternoon with a program record of 23 assists in a single season, Stegman added onto it Saturday.
Stegman posted four assists on the afternoon, three of which came in the first half alone.
The Naperville, Illinois native now sits in 2nd place all-time in program history with 52 total assists, surpassing Ryan McNamara. He is 11 assists away from tying Conor Gately’s all-time record 0f 63.
In the first half alone, Stegman posted three assists.
Key Stats
Marquette picked up 30 to Georgetown’s 27 ground balls. The Hoyas average 28.1 shots on goal per game.
As a team, Marquette had seven different players score goals. Five of those seven scored two or more goals.
Next Up
The Golden Eagles (6-6, 1-2 Big East) will travel to Pennsylvania to take on Villanova April 22.
This article was written by Ava Mares. She can be reached via email at a[email protected] or on Twitter @avamaresMU
