In its past three games against ranked teams, Marquette women’s lacrosse (5-4, 0-1 Big East) has lost by an average of 18.
Saturday, when the Golden Eagles welcomed No. 23 Georgetown (6-3, 1-0) to Valley Fields for their conference-opener, they had a chance to prove they can hang with lower ranked teams and tough competition in the Big East.
“We were so confident this week,” head coach Meredith Black said. “Going into this game we felt really good. Our team was so dedicated to focus this week, and they were all in, and they were ready and we prepared.”
Small runs were the decision-maker in this matchup and Marquette gave up too many to hold on, especially in the late stages, eventually losing 11-10.
Coming into the game, the Hoyas limited opponents to only 7.75 goals per game, while the Golden Eagles averaged almost double that and ranked seventh nationally in shooting percentage (.513). Something had to give.
But for a while, nothing did.
For the first almost 18 minutes of the matchup, Marquette and Georgetown exchanged goals each back-and-forth, staying within one score of each other. The Hoyas were taking advantage of winning the draw control more often than not and applying the pressure of a high shot volume.
The Golden Eagles played patient with the ball, working the Georgetown defense to find its weaknesses and staying in the game with the help of first-year goalie Jillian Howell, who tallied four saves in the first 20 minutes.
Coach Black on first-year goalie Jillian Howell, who played all 60 minutes and saved almost half the shot attempts against her:
“Our defense was huge, but with her in net… it’s just incredible.”
Howell grabbed nine saves today.#muwlax
— Ben Hanson (@benhansonMU) March 21, 2026
The contest remained in a stalemate which brought about long streaks with no scores from either side, the longest drought lasting seven minutes and ending after senior attacker Tess Osburn evened the matchup 5-5.
Then finally, something started to give.
Marquette put together two more scores in a row to grow its advantage to 7-5 by the end of the first half, the largest of the game on either side to that point. These short, breakthrough runs would become the lifeblood of the game. Senior attacker Isabelle Casucci consistently contributed to these runs, ending the day with a hat trick.
Q3 | MU 8, GU 5
Casucci scores a second goal to give Marquette a three goal lead!!!!#WeAreMarquette | #MarquetteWLAX pic.twitter.com/j72ZCMR1lq
— Marquette Women’s Lacrosse (@MarquetteWLax) March 21, 2026
“(Our pressure) was really good,” Black said. “We did a nice job having them cause some turnovers that they normally wouldn’t. Our defense was awesome. They kept getting the ball back for us and then our attack was moving at full speed.”
Georgetown adjusted and the looks that were working for Marquette prior became in vain. Both defenses cranked up their effort and, after the Hoyas whittled the Golden Eagles’ lead to 8-7, neither team scored for almost seven minutes. During that time, Howell made two saves and Georgetown goalie Leah Warehime made three.
The Hoyas began to find a rhythm on Marquette’s side of the field, often discovering prime shooting real estate near the crease. Out of the last six scores, Georgetown claimed four.
The Golden Eagles final chance to end the scoring drought came in the dying moments. Down 11-10 on offense, with ninety seconds to score, Marquette had the opportunity to send the game to overtime. But, it couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer.
“In a one goal game you got to limit as many of those little things as you can and we just had one more little thing than they did,” Black said about a last-minute foul and a tired defense.
The Golden Eagles will continue their home stint as they welcome UC Davis (5-4) on Monday at 12 p.m. CST. ESPN+ will host the broadcast.
This recap was written by Benjamin Hanson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @benhansonMU.
