Junior attackers Carsen Brandt and Tucker Mullen, and senior midfielder Jake Bair combined for 90% of the Golden Eagles’ scoring on Saturday. But it wasn’t enough to push Marquette men’s lacrosse past No. 4 Harvard on Saturday in its 19-10 loss.
Bair helped the Golden Eagles (2-3) get out to a fast start in Mineola, New York after he earned a point on each of their first two goals. The first, an assist to senior attacker Matt Caputo just 11 seconds into the game. The second, a goal off a pass from graduate attacker Nolan Rappis.
Mullen tallied the Golden Eagles’ third score of the game at the 12:18 mark of the first quarter to give them an early 3-0 lead. Mullen scored two more goals to complete his hat trick in the first quarter and give Marquette a 5-3 lead after the first 15 minutes were completed.
Then, it was Harvard’s turn.
The Crimson scored three unanswered goals to start the second frame before Brandt stopped the bleeding at the 7:14 mark. From there, Harvard would score another three unanswered to take a 9-6 advantage into halftime.
Junior attacker Jack Speidell took the game over in the third period, scoring four of the Crimson’s six goals and assisting one of the other two. Speidell tallied five of his career-high nine points in the third quarter, helping Harvard open up a 15-8 lead by the time 45 minutes had burned off the clock.
Brandt tried to help inspire a comeback with a goal 52 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut the lead to six, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome. The Golden Eagles were outscored 4-1 over the remaining 14:07 of the final frame, falling on the road for the first time this season.
Bair finished with a team-high four points for Marquette. His hat trick on Saturday was only the second of his career.
Nine different players scored for the Crimson, Speidell leading the way with seven. Sophomore attacker Nathan Cobery (3), senior attacker Teddy Malone (2) and senior attacker John Aurandt IV (2) also contributed multi-goal efforts for Harvard.
The Golden Eagles finish their three-game road trip 2-1 and will return home to face Mercer for the first time since 2015 (3-3) on March 7. Opening faceoff is scheduled for noon CST.
This story was written by Matthew Baltz. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MatthewBaltzMU.
