Marquette women’s lacrosse (4-7) started the year at home, but then they went on the road for five-straight games.

The Golden Eagles came back, though, after a month, and Sunday marked the last in a three-game home-stand.

“We started the season with a lot of away games,” senior midfielder Leigh Steiner said. “When we get back home is we’re excited to have the opportunity to play together. Marquette lacrosse is a family so getting to have our family come support us is what we love to do.”

While Marquette battled hard against No. 3 Michigan, they didn’t have enough to complete upset and fell to the Wolverines 18-11 at Valley Fields.

“This is the best preparation we could have playing against this team,” Marquette head coach Meredith Black said. “So much to take from this game which was really great.”

Resilient Golden Eagles

Michigan came out firing with four straight goals. Steiner would keep the Golden Eagles alive with two goals, but Michigan led 5-2 at the end of the first. Even though Marquette was shooting 100% compared to Michigan’s 72%, the Golden Eagles attempted only three shots to the Wolverines’ 11.

The second quarter was a different story. Marquette outscored Michigan 7-1, and had five different goal scorers on the board.

“The team all around was playing really well,” Steiner said. “It felt like everyone was scoring and that’s when we play our best is you don’t know who has all the stats but we’re all connected.”

Heading into halftime, the Golden Eagles were leading 9-6, and had demonstrated exactly what they are capable of.

“It’s exactly what we’ve seen so many times all year and same with this game we just haven’t put it together for 60 minutes yet,” Black said. “It was no surprise to me at all that we were able to do that.”

‘Playing not to lose’

While Marquette had the dominant first half, it was Michigan’s that played better at the right time to secure the win.

The Wolverines fought back come within one in the third half, and took control of the game in the fourth by scoring eight goals and holding Marquette to zero.

“In the second half we started playing not to lose versus playing to win,” Black said. “They’re obviously an amazing team and I think we just got internal with our confidence.”

Up next

Marquette travels UConn Saturday March 30. The game is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. CST.

This article was written by Sofie Hanrahan. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @SofieHanrahanMU.