Marquette men’s lacrosse simply just ran out of steam.
After an inspiring first 50 minutes against No. 7 Notre Dame (1-0) on Saturday afternoon in front of a sold out Valley Fields bubble, the Golden Eagles (0-2) were unable to make winning plays down the stretch in an eventual 16-11 loss.
“We made a few mistakes in the middle of the field,” head coach Jake Richard said. “[Notre Dame] made us pay for it right away, and that’s why they’re such a great team. I’m really proud of our athleticism and our compete level.”
The opening five minutes of the first half were all Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish got out to a 3-0 lead thanks to goals on their first two possessions from sophomore midfielder Matt Jeffery and first-year faceoff specialist Aidan Diaz-Matos.
After graduate midfielder Jalen Seymour scored with 10:29 to play in the first frame, it looked like the Golden Eagles might be in for a long afternoon, but the next 25 minutes told a different story.
Marquette held Notre Dame scoreless for over 15 minutes, also scoring three goals during that time to even the score.
“It was about our (defensive) unit adjusting,” Richard said. “We realized it was going to take all seven of us to stop those guys, those first three goals, guys working on islands, and in that next phase of the game the unit really started to buckle down and talk.”
First, junior midfielder Ethan Salvia netted his first career goal to cut into the deficit.
Then, junior attacker Tucker Mullen scored back-to-back goals to even the game at three. The Virginia transfer tied for a team-high four points Saturday afternoon with two goals and two assists.
“[Tucker’s] constantly talking,” Richard said. “He’s been a great presence in the locker room, and that I think that’s led to guys trusting him a little more in the game and feeding him some tight passes.
“He’s been a great addition on and off the field.”
The Fighting Irish went on a 5-1 run after Mullen’s goals, headlined by sophomore attacker Luke Miller’s two goals.
However, Marquette would go into halftime down 8-6 after scores from junior midfielder Beau Westphal and junior attacker Carsen Brandt.
Brandt and senior attacker Matt Caputo opened up the second half with a pair of goals to tie the game at eight. But that’s as close as MU would get, suffering another 5-1 run after Brandt’s goal with 10:17 to play in the third period.
The dagger came with just seconds left in the third quarter. Marquette had possession just 10 seconds prior, but was offside and unable to get a timeout off before the officiating crew noticed. Notre Dame was awarded possession, and first-year attacker Teddy Lally capitalized with five seconds remaining, his goal extending the Irish lead to 12-9.
“Our guys didn’t react well to the change in possession, and that’s something we got to get better at,” Richard said.
The Fighting Irish outscored the Golden Eagles 4-2 in the fourth quarter en route to their five-goal win. Marquette was held scoreless from the 10:57 mark until the 1:45 mark in the final frame.
“I think we were wearing down,” Richard said. “A team like [Notre Dame] is incredibly athletic, and as you wear down, approaches become more important and clearing the ball becomes even more important. Every ground ball is more important, and I think we just wore down a little bit at the end.”
While the Golden Eagles are still winless this season, Richard emphasized the good that can come out of the games they’ve played against two top-20 teams.
“We’re finding out who we are, and I really like what we have.”
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
