MLAX Opens 2025 at No. 15 Michigan on Saturday

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men’s lacrosse team kicks off the head coaching career of Jake Richard on Saturday against No. 15 Michigan on National Marquette Day, Saturday, Feb. 1 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Opening faceoff is slated for noon Central time at U-M Lacrosse Stadium and the game airs live on BTN+ with Matt Laurinec and Nick Zoroya on the call.

Live statistics can be accessed on Stat Broadcast through GoMarquette.com, courtesy of Michigan Athletics.

MARQUETTE (0-0, 0-0 BIG EAST)

• Former MU USILA All-American Jake Richard, a Team USA and PLL defensive midfielder, begins his first season as head coach at his alma mater. Richard has been involved with all 167 games in program history as either a student-athlete (2013-16) or assistant coach (2017-24). During his playing career, he led MU to the program’s first BIG EAST Conference title in 2016 and still ranks among MU’s all-time leaders in games played (fourth, 61), ground balls (fourth, 193), and caused turnovers (sixth, 38).
• MU is picked to tie for fifth place with St. John’s in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll and attackman Bobby O’Grady was selected to the league’s all-preseason team.
• O’Grady, a senior captain, is MU’s all-time scoring leader (114 goals) and one of four returning offensive starters, alongside Carsen Brandt, Nolan Rappis and midfielder Will Foster.
• O’Grady is MU’s returning points leader (34 on 26 goals and eight assists) after leading the squad in goals for the third time in as many campaigns. Brandt put up an outstanding freshman season with 28 points on 16 goals and 12 assists, while Foster was third on MU with 16 goals and fifth with 23 total points.
• O’Grady, Foster and junior short-stick defensive midfielder Peter Detwiler are team captains for the 2025 campaign.
• The Golden Eagles graduated a large senior class that included four-time USILA All-America defenseman Mason Woodward in addition to former all-league players Jake Stegman, Devon Cowan and faceoff specialist Luke Williams.

No. 15 MICHIGAN (0-0, 0-0 BIG TEN)

• The Wolverines captured a second consecutive Big Ten tournament title in 2024 and the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. They are ranked 15th nationally to enter the 2025 campaign in both the USILA and media polls.
• UM fell, 16-11, at then-No. 7 Denver in the NCAA First Round and ended the year with a 10-7 overall record.
• Senior attackman Ryan Cohen returns after leading the Wolverines with 71 points (34 goals and 37 assists) and ranking in the top three in the Big Ten in both assists and points per game last season. He carries a 47-game point streak into his senior campaign.
• U-M must contend with the graduation of team leaders Justin Tiernan, Michael Boehm and Justin Wietfeldt in 2025. Tiernan and Wietfeldt ranked among the NCAA leaders in goals and faceoff win percentage, respectively, in 2024.
• Junior goalie Hunter Taylor is a two-time All-Big Ten Tournament selection and started 23 games over his first two seasons. Taylor has a career save percentage of .501 and a goal against average of 11.18.
• Head coach Kevin Conry is in his eighth season in Ann Arbor.

HISTORY WITH THE WOLVERINES

• UM has been a mainstay on MU’s schedule over the last decade, starting as a preseason scrimmage competitor before joining the regular season slate in the spring of 2018.
• The Wolverines have claimed four of the six regular season meetings all-time, including a 20-12 victory on Feb. 24 last season in Naples, Florida. O’Grady posted four goals to lead MU and broke the program’s career scoring record, previously held by Ryan McNamara. Jake Bair also added a hat trick for MU.
• Last year’s matchup was part of the third annual Southwest Florida Shootout in Naples, Florida. MU defeated then-No. 16 Michigan, 14-9, in the 2023 edition of the event at the Paradise Coast Complex.
• Saturday is MU’s first game at Michigan since a 13-12 loss to UM on March 11, 2020, also the final game of the 2020 NCAA men’s lacrosse season, which ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ohio State-transfer Matt Caputo, expected to start in MU’s midfield, owns eight career goals against U-M. He scored twice in OSU’s 2024 regular season finale and notched a pair of hat tricks against the Wolverines as a true freshman in 2023.
• MU offensive coordinator Mark Bieda spent one season as a volunteer assistant coach at Michigan in 2023 and his brother, Scott, is currently in his third season as an assistant coach with the Wolverines.
• MU has just one native Michigander on its roster in graduate transfer Ryan Doyle, a defenseman from Brighton, Michigan, who played the last three seasons at NCAA Division III University of Dubuque in Iowa. Doyle owns the NCAA DIII record for caused turnovers in a career (247).
• Key MU players career versus UM:
  • Jake Bair: 2 GP, 3g
  • Carsen Brandt: 1 GP, 1g, 3a
  • Matt Caputo (at Ohio State): 3 GP, 8g, 4 gb
  • Will Foster: 2 GP, 1g, 1a
  • David Lamarca: 3 GP, 4 gb, 2 ct
  • Bobby O’Grady: 3 GP, 7g
  • Mike Piraino: 2 GP, 2 gb, 1 ct
  • Nolan Rappis: 1 GP, 3g, 1a, 1 gb
  • Adam Slager: 1 GP, 4-of-13, 1 gb

O’GRADY VAULTS UP MU RECORD BOOK

• Bobby O’Grady burst onto the scene as the 2022 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and has scored at an elite pace in his first three seasons at Marquette (2.65 goals per game). He’s a three-time All-BIG EAST performer and was named to the league’s all-preseason team in January.
• Through just 43 games of his NCAA career, he’s the all-time program leader in goals (114) and man-up scores (22). He broke Ryan McNamara’s program goal record of 102 against then-No. 13/12 Michigan on Feb. 24, 2024, in Naples, Florida.
• He turned in a record-setting season as a true freshman in 2022, setting new program records for goals (45) and man-up scores (13). He also recorded just the fourth 50-point season at Marquette and tied a BIG EAST record with eight goals at St. John’s on April 9, 2022.
• O’Grady (133 career points) enters his senior campaign just 19 points from McNamara’s program points record of 152.

ANOTHER CHALLENGING SCHEDULE

• The Golden Eagles will once again face a difficult non-conference schedule in addition to the always-challenging BIG EAST Conference slate.
• In addition to the season opener at No. 15 Michigan on Feb. 1, the Golden Eagles face the two-time defending NCAA Champion No. 1 Notre Dame on Feb. 15 in Indiana. MU also has road contests at No. 19/18 Harvard on March 1 and at a Utah squad receiving votes in the media poll on March 15.
• The BIG EAST Conference features two squads ranked in the top 11 of both polls in No. 9/10 Denver and No. 11 Georgetown and two other teams receiving votes in the media poll (Villanova and Providence). The Hoyas are the unanimous preseason league favorites, while MU was tied for fifth with St. John’s in the coaches’ survey.

BRANDT IMPRESSED AS FROSH

• Attackman Carsen Brandt played a large role early in his freshman season last spring and is expected to be a large contributor to the MU offensive unit.
• The 6-foot-3 native of Edina, Minnesota was the No. 54 incoming freshman last season, according to Inside Lacrosse, and ended the 2024 campaign with 16 goals and 12 assists while starting all 14 contests. His 28 points were third on the squad.
• Brandt was mentored by former MU All-American and fellow Minnesotan Ryan McNamara and is one of the best prep players to come from the Gopher State. As a junior at Benilde St. Margaret’s, he set state records for most points in state tournament history (21), most points in a tournament game (10) and most assists in a state tournament (12) and most assists in a state tournament game (seven).

QUESTION MARKS ON DEFENSE AND SPECIALTY UNITS

• The Golden Eagles lost a pair of starting close defensemen in Woodward and Noah Verlinde and must also replace all-conference faceoff specialist Luke Willams and goalie Caleb Creasor, who started every game last spring.
• Poles David Lamarca (44 career games) and Mike Piraino (22 games) return as MU’s most experienced defenders and played both LSM and close defense last season. Ryan Kilcoyne served as MU’s fourth defenseman and started four games last year in addition to serving on MU’s man-down unit.
• Head coach Jake Richard, a former D-mid himself, will rely upon team captain Peter Detwiler to lead MU’s rope unit and contributions from younger players. Detwiler has played in all 28 games (34 ground balls and seven caused turnovers) over his two seasons at MU and grad student Jadyn Castillo redshirted last spring. Redshirt junior Brendan Boyle has also played short stick and pole during his 25-game career.
• In net, Lucas Lawas returns after playing just 38 minutes last season behind Creasor. Lawas played big minutes at the end of his freshman campaign in 2023, which featured overtime losses to three top-12 teams to end the season.
• At the faceoff dot, native Wisconsinite Adam Slager (Stoughton) is the lone returner. Slager played in eight games in 2024 as a redshirt freshman, won 55.8% of his draws (43-of-77) and picked up 22 ground balls. All but one of his appearances came prior to the start of BIG EAST action.

FORMER GOLDEN EAGLES SHINE FOR TEAM USA AND IN PRO LACROSSE

• Marquette is represented in the highest levels of the sport by some of the world’s best lacrosse players in Liam Byrnes (’16), Jake Richard (’16), John Wagner (’19) and Mason Woodward (’24).
• Woodward, now in his first season as assistant coach at his alma mater, was a first-round selection of the Utah Archers in the PLL College Draft and led the Archers to a repeat PLL crown in the summer of 2024. His play in the championship game was instrumental to the victory for the Archers with three ground balls and a caused turnover that spurred his own two-point goal to swing momentum.
• Woodward, a defenseman ranked No. 30 in the 2024 PLL Players Top 50, concluded his rookie campaign with seven points on three goals and a pair of two-pointers, alongside 26 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers. In two PLL playoff games he notched seven ground balls and caused four turnovers.
• Wagner captured a silver medal in the 2024 World Lacrosse Men’s Box Championship in Albany playing with Team USA. Wagner is fourth in MU history in goals (77) and sixth in career points (109) and helped the Golden Eagles to a pair of BIG EAST titles as a freshman and sophomore in 2016 and 2017.
• Byrnes and current head coach Jake Richard helped Team USA to its 11th gold medal in the 2023 World Lacrosse Men’s Championship from June 21-July 1, 2023, in San Diego, California. Byrnes and Richard are long-time members of the American training team and were selected to the active roster for the event in the fall of 2022.
• Byrnes is all All-Premier Lacrosse League close defenseman and led Waterdogs LC to a league title in 2022, while Richard plays SSDM. Byrnes also plays box lacrosse in the NLL.

HOME GAMES ON FLOSPORTS

• All home games for both MU men’s and women’s programs will be broadcast live on FloSports, the BIG EAST Conference’s digital rights holder. Discounted rates for FloSports accounts are available by signing up through the Marquette portal for either men’s or women’s (signing up with either link will work for both sports).
• Most BIG EAST games, home- and road-contests, will be available through FloSports. Check MU’s online schedule for updated direct links to live statistics and broadcasts throughout the season.

IRON DISTRICT MKE, THE FUTURE HOME OF MU LAX

• Iron District MKE, the new home stadium for men’s and women’s soccer and lacrosse sits on an 11-acre parcel of land that Marquette University sold in spring 2022 to Bear Development who, together with Kacmarcik Enterprises, is developing the area into a vibrant sports and entertainment district.
• The development, bordered by N. 6th Street to the east, N. 10th Street to the west, and W. Michigan Street to the north, is centered around an 8,000-seat stadium, includes a 3,500-capacity indoor concert venue operated by the Pabst Theater Group, will have a 140-unit residential component, boutique hotel, in addition to dining, nightlife and retail operations.

Keep up with the Marquette men’s lacrosse program through social media by following on X (@MarquetteMLax) and Instagram (@MarquetteMLax) and ‘liking’ on Facebook (/MarquetteMLax).

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

Recent Press Releases by Marquette Athletics

WBB Earns Road Victory Over Xavier Wednesday Night, 67-38

Jan 29th, 2025 by Marquette Athletics

Golden Eagles travel to Villanova Sunday at 1 p.m. CT

MLAX Opens 2025 at No. 15 Michigan on Saturday

Jan 29th, 2025 by Marquette Athletics

 

No. 9/9 #MUBB Rallies For 78-69 Win At Butler

Jan 28th, 2025 by Marquette Athletics