Head coach Meredith Black knew almost immediately she had something special.

This past summer, the Marquette women’s lacrosse team’s incoming first-years competed in a tournament against other Division I teams’ newcomers.

They almost won the whole thing.

“Who didn’t we win against?” first-year Gabbi Perino said while trying to remember the games.

One game into Big East play, many of Marquette’s 12 first-years have flaunted their dominance while adopting critical roles and replacing empty ones from last season’s departures.

“They don’t care that they’re freshmen,” Black said. “They’re like ‘We’ll lead if you need us to lead, we’ll play hard if you need us to play hard, we’ll set the tone if you need us to set the tone.’

“This freshman class is better than any other freshman class we’ve ever had.”

This group comes from the recruiting that followed the Golden Eagles’ historic 2023 season, in which they earned their first NCAA tournament bid in program history and earned a record 15 wins.

One new face from that pool is already showing flashes of history-making skill.

Dani Serrano is on track to finish the season as the points leader on the team, a feat no first-year has ever achieved.

This team-leading performance has come from Serrano’s ability to score and assist. She currently has 46 points, followed by senior attacker Tess Osburn’s 36 and graduate midfielder Hanna Bodner’s 26. Against Central Michigan, Serrano tallied nine points: a first-year single game program record. The only other player on the team to strike the balance of helping and doing has been first-year attacker Ella Mautz: fourth on the team in points.

Regardless of their collegiate inexperience, Black has made a point of continuing to give them minutes on the field.

“Every game you’re going to experience something new and you’re going to have a new challenge,” Black recounted telling Serrano. “Now she’s on everyone’s scouting report already, so she’s going to have to manage that.

“That lack of experience is the tough part about having solid freshmen.”

Serrano’s determination to exceed expectations comes from her time in high school. She was placed on her lacrosse club’s B-team despite setting a single season assist record at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School which was No. 2 in the country at the time.

“I know what I want to do with the ball, I want to be the best and everyone can tell and I push myself,” Serrano said, insisting prior that she is very humble. “It’s that confidence that sets me aside from everyone else.”

On Feb. 16 and March 2, the Boyds, Maryland native received Big East Freshman of the Week. But, naturally with this class, she wasn’t the only one garnering conference attention.

Last week, Gabby Windesheim also grabbed the honor, in part because of her career-high nine draw controls in the Golden Eagles’ 6-5 win over Niagara. As one of the primary draw control specialists, she sits second on the team in the stat (26).

The duo’s accolades mark the first time in program history two different Marquette players earned this award in the same season.

“It’s so cool,” Windesheim said of first-years finding success so early in her collegiate career. “It gets me excited for the next year and everything in store for us.”

The bond this group shares extends well off the field, as well.

Every first-year on the team lives in Humphrey Hall, many of them roommates. As roommates, Serrano and Windesheim watch film together and whenever one goes to train early in the morning, they bring the other along.

“We each push each other to be better,” Windesheim said.

As a group, the loss of Marquette men’s lacrosse’s Noah Snyder and Scott Michaud in September brought them even closer. This happened only a few months into them knowing each other.

“We all had to rely on each other and be each other’s support system,” Serrano said. “We were coming into a new environment and we all loved each other right away.”

History has shown — as it did with this first-year class — successful seasons can mean better recruits. But Black continues to focus on what they have now, not what they can get in the future. Especially as they get further into Big East play, they’re hungry for success in their conference.

Marquette hasn’t made the Big East tournament since its notable 2023 season and has never earned a conference regular season or tournament title. The highest it has finished in the Big East is second, losing out to perennial power Denver.

Bodner, one of the oldest on the Marquette roster, led a team meeting earlier last week to inform the first-years what to expect from conference play. She detailed how hard these games are going to be, especially their first against Georgetown on March 21.

“They’ve never backed down from a challenge yet,” Black said before their matchup against the Hoyas.

And this is only year one.

This article was written by Benjamin Hanson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @benhansonMU.