Marquette women’s lacrosse (2-0) hasn’t left a matchup against the University of Cincinnati (1-1) with their heads hung low since 2019. And it has never happened at Valley Fields.
Sunday, as the Golden Eagles welcomed the Bearcats for its second game of the season, there were many reminders of this lopsided history. Seventeen of them to be exact. After a first quarter of which Marquette would want erased from its stat sheet, it turned a switch to take control of the game and win 17-10.
“I think we have a lot of tools and I think we’re good on all areas,” Golden Eagles head coach Meredith Black said. “We can help each other out and we got each other’s backs. And so when one area might have a quick struggle, the other area hopefully will pick up some slack.”
Cincinnati started the game hot, taking advantage of Marquette’s poor ball handling and penalties.
Bearcats goalkeeper Bella Kerr disrupted the Golden Eagles’ offense, catching three saves after eight minutes and leading 4-2 after 15.
“I thought we came out a little anxious, making some of our own errors, our own mistakes,” Black said.
No one would have blamed the crowd if they thought a different roster came out to play for Marquette in the second quarter.
“I just (said), ‘One second at a time, literally, catch before you do anything. Take a step before you run. Put your hand on your top of stick before you pick up a ground ball,'” Black said. “The ball was coming at us and we were already worried about scoring.”
Marquette scored all seven of the period’s goals and Cincinnati couldn’t buy possession time. Five different scorers (two each from junior midfielder Sarah Beth Burns and senior attacker Tess Osburn) contributed to this onslaught.
During the run, the Golden Eagles put up 12 shots — eight of them on goal — and the Bearcats could only muster two. When Cincinnati’s only relief, the buzzer, echoed throughout the dome to signal the end of the first half, the Golden Eagles led 9-4.
“We were moving the ball well,” fifth-year midfielder Hanna Bodner said. “I think we figured out their defense. They definitely were putting a lot of pressure on us.”
Once the Golden Eagles got its ball rolling, it was far too big and fast for Cincinnati to stop.
While running away with the game — beginning during a seven-minute long running clock, which came with 3:53 left in the third and a 15-5 score — some standouts showed their value to Marquette.
Osburn and Bodner — filling the scoring void left by Meg Bireley’s departure — collected hat tricks. They would end the day with eight combined goals. The Golden Eagles’ backup goalie, first-year Jillian Howell, made her first appearance this season, tallying three saves in 30 minutes of field time.
Marquette will stay at home and host Central Michigan next Friday at 5 p.m. CST, when Black hopes her team opens the game better.
“Hopefully we’ll react to it a little bit better (in the future),” Black said. “I think Cincinnati put great pressure on us and so we weren’t ready for that.
“Hopefully we’ll use this experience to help us get through it faster (next time).”
This recap was written by Benjamin Hanson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @benhansonMU.
