The Notre Dame lacrosse team took on the Marquette Golden Eagles in a road battle and came away with a 16-11 victory. It was the opening game of the year for the Irish, meaning they are 1-0 heading into their next contest. For Marquette, they fall to 0-2 after having played two ranked opponents, Michigan and Notre Dame, to start the year.
The Irish jumped out to an incredibly fast start, getting goals on each of their first two possessions, getting goals from sophomore midfielder Matt Jeffery and Aidan-Diaz Matos, a freshman, capitalizing after he won the faceoff. Graduate student midfielder Jalen Seymour then capitalized on a couple of possessions later to make it a 3-0 lead for the Irish, but then the goals really quieted down for Notre Dame. The Irish got good looks, but Marquette’s goalkeeper Lucas Lawas made some excellent saves, finishing the half with seven saves.
Offensively, Marquette took great care of the ball and executed on their face-offs. As a result, they tied the game up at three, with goals from Ethan Salvia and then two from Tucker Mullen. The Irish went on a 16-minute drought without a goal, but they got one from junior attack Brock Behrman and then went on a 5-1 run, getting three goals in two minutes. Marquette responded to that 5-goal run by getting two goals to end the half and then two goals early in the second half as well to tie the game up at eight. Just like they did when the game was tied at three, though, the Irish locked in and went on yet another 5-1 run, getting three goals in that run from the incoming transfer from Air Force graduate student attack Josh Yago, playing in his first career Notre Dame game. From that point, the Irish never looked back, finishing the game winning 16-11.
Notable players offensively for the Irish include Yago, who led the team in scoring with four goals in his Notre Dame debut, sophomore attack Luke Miller, who picked up two goals and two assists and Jeffery, who picked up two goals and an assist. For the Irish, most of their goals were scored because of players creating their own opportunities off good dodges. For Marquette offensively, Carsen Brandt and Beau Westphal each picked up hat tricks, which accounted for a little more than half of Marquette’s goals. Mullen also contributed two goals and two assists for the Golden Eagles, and they were efficient with their shots as 23 of their 34 shots were on goal, which made it tough for the Notre Dame defense.
Defensively for the Irish, senior goalkeeper Thomas Ricciardelli picked up 12 saves in the contest. The star pole for the Irish was senior LSM Will Donovan, the three-time All-American, as he caused three turnovers and picked up three ground balls. The reigning Schmeiser award winner, junior defensive player Shawn Lyght, also had a solid game, causing one turnover and picking up three ground balls. It was a relatively sound defensive game for the Irish, and their two defensive stars led the way in this contest. For Marquette, they had struggles causing turnovers as they only forced four compared to the Irish, who forced 10. Lawas picked up 10 saves for the Golden Eagles, most of which came in the first half.
For Notre Dame, while they did take the win in this one, they may have been looking for a better offensive performance. There were real slumps that occurred in that game, particularly at the end of the first quarter and the start of the second quarter. A lot of that came down to the faceoff battle as the Irish went a combined 15-29 on faceoffs. That ultimately led to more offensive opportunities for Marquette than Notre Dame would have liked to have given them. It was the least amount of goals Notre Dame had scored in a game against Marquette since 2021, and even though the Irish did win, they have been looking for a better performance against a team that they normally dominate. The Irish will take on Bellarmine for their home opener on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
