Lacrosse remains confident despite loss to Marquette in home opener
The Central Michigan lacrosse team went toe-to-toe with Marquette Thursday, fell to the Golden Eagles 12-9 in the team's home opener.
The back-and-fourth contest featured five ties and four lead changes.
The Golden Eagles (1-3) came out of the break after trailing 5-3, and scored four goals in the first five minutes to take a 7-5 lead early in the second half.
After freshman Emily Kraus scored her second goal of the night for the Chippewas, Marquette added two more of its own to extend the lead to 9-6 with 18:19 remaining.
CMU (1-2) answered with a scoring run of their own tacking on three unanswered goals. Sophomore Riley Huda and freshman Shannon Doyle each put one in the back of the net for CMU, before Kraus added her hat trick goal to tie the game at 9-all with 12:20 left in the game.
The Golden Eagles came back with three unanswered goals of their own to give them a 12-9 with just 0:57 remaining, sealing the victory.
Sophomore captain Jocelyne Lemay said she was proud of the way her team handled the adversity against a high-quality opponent like Marquette.
“It’s exciting to see the progress we’ve made from last game to this game,” Lemay said. “If we play like we did today, I can’t wait to see the results of conference games.”
Lemay led the way for the Chippewas in the first half scoring three goals. Lemay answered a Marquette goal to tie the game at 1-1, and then again at 2-2. She later tacked on her third goal to give CMU a 5-3 lead heading into the break.
Sophomore Anna Schoonover also added a first-half goal for the Chippewas, and then tacked on a first-half assist on a one-time goal scored by Kraus.
Even though the Chippewas lost, head coach Sara Tisdale said she was excited about the team’s performance and ability to stay in the game.
“I hate to lose, but I’ll take a loss when we compete, fight and show who we truly are as a team,” said Tisdale. “Huge growth moment for us as a program.”
Central Michigan will take on Virginia Commonwealth Sunday, March 5 on the road, before returning home March 12 to face Cincinnati.
