MLAX Faces No. 13 Georgetown Thursday in BIG EAST Semis

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University men’s lacrosse team heads to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver for the 2025 BIG EAST Conference Championship and will face top-seeded No. 13 Georgetown in Thursday’s semifinal game.

First faceoff against the Hoyas is slated for 5:07 p.m. Central time and the contest airs live on CBS Sports Network with Brent Stover and Evan Washburn on the call.

Tickets for the event are available through the University of Denver Ticket Office online or by calling 303-871-4625. Tickets can also be purchased at the gate on Thursday afternoon.

The winner of the contest earns a spot in the BIG EAST Conference Championship game at 4 p.m. Central time. That game also airs on CBS Sports Network from Peter Barton Stadium.

[4 SEED] MARQUETTE (7-6, 2-3 BIG EAST)

• The Golden Eagles secured their first league tournament semifinal berth since 2022 by defeating Denver, 18-11, on Friday night in the regular season finale at Valley Fields. The win over DU is MU’s first in regular season play and the first triumph over the Pios since the 2017 BIG EAST semifinals in Providence.
• MU’s 18 goals scored against Denver are the most DU has allowed this season and the most it has surrendered since a 19-10 loss at then-No. 7 Duke on Feb. 19, 2022.
• Two of MU’s conference losses have come by a single goal. MU fell in double overtime to then-No. 14 Georgetown on April 5 and 14-13 at Villanova on April 19.
• As a team, the Golden Eagles are first nationally on man-up opportunities with a .594 success rate (19-of-32) and went 3-for-4 against Denver. Junior Matt Caputo is sixth in the country with seven man-up goals and has scored 20 times this season.
• MU is 20th in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (.550), second only to Villanova (.583) in the BIG EAST. Redshirt sophomore Adam Slager is 24th nationally at a .558 clip and won 14-of-22 with 10 ground balls against Denver to earn BIG EAST Specialist of the Week.
• Senior attackman Nolan Rappis leads MU with a career-high 45 points on a team-best 31 goals and 15 assists. Rappis set a program single-game record with 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the win over Detroit Mercy on Feb. 8. He’s reached at least five goals in a game three times this season, including on Saturday against Denver.
• MU’s all-time leading scorer and point producer Bobby O’Grady, has 29 goals and 45 points. He’s fifth in NCAA Division I among active players with 145 career goals.
• Senior midfielder Will Foster is among MU’s all-time leaders in goals, assists and total points. His 52 career assists are fourth in program history, while he is seventh in points (105) and 10th in goals (53). He’s just the third player in program history to reach 100 career points with at least 50 goals and 50 assists (Ryan McNamara and Conor Gately).
• Junior goalie Lucas Lawas has started every game in net this season and through four BIG EAST games has posted a .545 save percentage in league action with an average of 13.40 saves per game. Dating back to the overtime win at Utah on March 15, Lawas has recorded at least 12 saves in six of seven games.
• O’Grady, Foster and junior SSDM Peter Detwiler are team captains for the 2025 campaign.
• MU’s four-game winning streak from March 4-29 is its first since 2017.
• Former MU USILA All-American Jake Richard, a Team USA and PLL defensive midfielder, is in his first season as head coach at his alma mater. Richard has been involved with all 170 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 IN THE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT

• The Golden Eagles are 4-4 all-time in the BIG EAST Championship with a pair of tournament crowns captured in 2016 and 2017.
• MU makes its seventh trip to the league semifinals and the second time at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
• Marquette’s last trip to Denver for the BIG EAST tournament was in 2016 and resulted in MU’s first conference title and victory over a No. 1 team. MU topped then-No. 16 Villanova in that year’s semis and downed reigning national champion No. 1 Denver in the title contest.

Previous BIG EAST tournament games:

2014 (Villanova, Pa. – 2 seed)
5/1/14 at (3) Villanova (L, 9-6)

2015 (Villanova, Pa. – 3 seed)
4/30/15 vs. (2) No. 13 Georgetown (L, 12-8)

2016 (Denver – 2 seed)
5/5/16 vs. (3) No. 16 Villanova (W, 14-9)
5/7/16 at (1) No. 1 Denver (W, 10-9)

2017 (Providence, R.I. – 4 seed)
5/4/17 vs. (1) No. 2 Denver (W, 11-8)
5/6/17 at (3) Providence (W, 10-9)

2018 (Villanova, Pa. – 4 seed)
5/4/18 vs. (1) No. 3 Denver (L, 10-7)

2022 (Washington, D.C. – 4 seed)
5/5/22 at (1) No. 2 Georgetown (L, 15-5)

[1 SEED] NO. 13 GEORGETOWN (9-4, 4-1 BIG EAST)

• The Hoyas defeated then-No. 19 Villanova, 17-9, on Friday in Washington, D.C., to earn a share of the BIG EAST regular season championship with the Wildcats and the league’s No. 1 tournament seed.
• GU fell to Denver, 7-3, on April 12 at home after opening conference play with one-goal victories against Providence and in double overtime at Marquette on April 5.
• Graduate attackman Aidan Carroll leads Georgetown with 33 goals and 53 points this season, while Fulton Bayman has a team-best 23 assists and 45 total points. Freshman Jack Ransom is GU’s second leading scorer with 26 goals after posting a BIG EAST-record nine in Friday’s win over Villanova.
• Anderson Moore leads the league with a 9.02 goals against average and his .534 save percentage is highest among starting goalies.
• Head Coach Kevin Warne is in his 13th season leading the Hoyas. The five-time BIG EAST Coach of the Year has led Georgetown to six consecutive BIG EAST Championships in 2018-24.

HISTORY WITH THE HOYAS

• Marquette is 5-10 all-time against Georgetown, which has won each of the last seven meetings. MU had won four-straight contests in the series from 2016-19.
• The Hoyas won the previous meeting this season 10-9 on Aidan Carroll’s fifth goal with 24 seconds remaining in a second overtime on April 5. MU won just 8-of-24 faceoffs in that matchup, but Lawas made a career-high 17 saves to keep the Golden Eagles in contention.
• Both starting assignments that Lawas has made in his career against the Hoyas have been overtime losses. The junior dropped an OT decision during his freshman season in 2023 in addition to this year’s 2OT loss. Lawas has a .561 save percentage through 129:48 of action against GU.
• MU has faced Georgetown twice previously in BIG EAST semifinal action (a 2015 loss at Villanova and a 2022 loss in D.C.)
• All five of MU’s wins over GU in program history have come by just a single goal.
• Career vs. GU:
  • Carsen Brandt: 2 GP, 2a
  • Matt Caputo: 1 GP, 3g
  • Peter Detwiler: 3 GP, 3 gb
  • Will Foster: 5 GP, 8g, 4a, 12 pts
  • David Lamarca: 6 GP, 1a, 13 gb, 1 ct
  • Lucas Lawas: 2 GP, 129:48, 32 saves, .561, 25 GA
  • Brady Nicholas: 1 GP, 3 gb, 1 ct
  • Bobby O’Grady: 5 GP, 12g, 1a, 13 pts, 6 gb

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.