The chill from the below-freezing February air trickled into the Valley Fields bubble as the Marquette men’s club lacrosse team played its first games of the 2024 spring campaign.
Looking to build from the fall, the club is keeping the same mentality it had last season: Continuously making progress, fostering team culture and winning games.
“We lost a lot of good guys (from last season), we definitely learned to fix our weak points. I think we’ve become stronger as a team through pushing each other,” Aiden Sanchez, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said.
Marquette checked off all three of those boxes in their spring season opener at home Feb. 17, defeating crosstown rival University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 12-3.
“We came out hot, did everything fast and with a sense of purpose, staying on the same page as practice and the preseason,” club president Garner Werntz, a senior in the College of Business Administration, said. “We played together, ‘we before me,’ that really panned out for us.”
Right after beating the Panthers, the Golden Eagles faced the Mad Cow Lacrosse Club, a men’s club team for post-college graduates. Marquette narrowly won 11-8 after closing the game scoring four unanswered goals, to move to 2-0 on the season.
“Today was definitely a good starting point for our season; it showed our weak points, what we need to work on to get better throughout the season; as for our start, I’d say it’s good momentum to start our season, and gives us the confidence to keep pushing through,” Sanchez said.
Marquette does not have any more home games left this season, so they will look to carry this momentum on the road for the remaining six games of the spring slate.
Sanchez joined the team because he enjoyed playing the sport in high school and wanted to continue doing something he was passionate about. He said the team culture helps make them so successful.
“We help make each other better, we get a little chirpy here and there, but I’d say the culture and the camaraderie are the best part,” Sanchez said.
First–year goalkeeper Leo Henning joined the team because he missed the camaraderie that being around a team provided him and wanted to learn the game from a different lens.
“I joined because I missed playing from high school. I messed up my back in high school, so I switched to goalie because I can’t get down for face-offs,” Henning, a first year in the College of Business Administration, said.
“The reaction time I built from face-offs translated really well to playing goalie and joining club lacrosse; it’s nice to have a community to hang out with.”
Marquette competes in the Great Lakes Lacrosse League, meaning it plays a wide range of club teams. The league fields teams representing both Big Ten and WIAC schools (Division III schools such as the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh), among schools from all NCAA divisions.
Werntz said being part of Marquette club lacrosse has been a good way for club members to foster friendships, on and off the field.
“Lacrosse is fun and a blast, but it’s the people. Doing it for the guy to your left and to your right, knowing that he’s got your back off the field. We’re friends before we’re teammates.” Werntz said. “We bust each other up a little bit in practice, but everyone’s a good human, more than they’re a good lacrosse player, and that’s what makes it worthwhile.”
The Golden Eagles resume their spring season Saturday, March 23 in Madison.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.
