The Marquette Golden Eagles men's lacrosse team represents

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

and competes in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

. The Golden Eagles play their home games at

Valley Fields Valley Fields is a 1,750-seat outdoor stadium and practice facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, primarily used by the varsity men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams at Marquette University, all of which compete in the Big East Conference. The co ...

starting in 2016 and were formerly coached by Joe Amplo.

History

Starting a program

Marquette started talking about adding a new program to its offerings in the summer of 2010. The athletic department eventually settled on lacrosse since the school lacked a spectator spring sport, and by September the move was approved by the Board of Trustees. The University partnered with former college head coach

Dave Cottle Dave Cottle is a retired American lacrosse coach. He was a consultant for Marquette University, when they added men's and women's varsity lacrosse on December 16, 2010. He was previously the head coach for the Maryland Terrapins men's lacrosse te ...

, who led the search committee for the program's first coach. Marquette introduced former Hofstra assistant Joe Amplo as head coach on February 27, 2011.

2015: Put on the map

The first two years of play for the Golden Eagles went as expected. Marquette went 5–8 in its first season, earning the program's first victory on March 2, 2013 against Air Force, and 6–10 in the second season. It was 2015 when Amplo and his team started turning heads. Marquette started its season defeating two straight ranked opponents, No. 18/16 Lehigh and No. 17/19 Hofstra. On February 16 the Golden Eagles entered the media and coaches' top 20 for the first time in program history. They would move as high as 9th in the media poll. However, Marquette couldn't hold on down the stretch. Losses to Georgetown, Bellarmine, Notre Dame, Duke and Denver ended the Golden Eagles tournament hopes.

Tournament Time

Despite the strong 2015 season, Marquette hadn't accomplished its goal of making the NCAA Tournament. The team wouldn't have to wait much longer. After defeating Villanova in the first round of the BIG EAST tournament, the Golden Eagles shocked the lacrosse community on May 7, 2016, defeating then-No. 1 Denver 10-9 for the Golden Eagles' first BIG EAST title. The loss was the first for Denver in their three years of BIG EAST play and the Pioneers first home loss in 22 games. The win was only the second for a Marquette program over a top ranked team, and the first since the men's basketball team took down Kentucky in 2003. Liam Byrnes was named the tournament's most valuable player. The win propelled the Golden Eagles from an on-the-bubble team to the sixth best seed and Marquette's first tournament appearance in just its fourth season of play. Marquette hosted its first NCAA Tournament game on May 14, 2016, a 10–9 loss to perennial powerhouse

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The Tar Heels would go on to defeat

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

14-13 in overtime for their first NCAA title since 1991.

All-time head coaches

Season results

The following is a list of Marquette's results by season as an NCAA Division I program: {, class="wikitable" , - align="center" †NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 virus.

Awards

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All-Americans

*Tyler Melnyk (2014 Honorable Mention) *Liam Byrnes (2016 Second Team) *B.J. Grill (2016 Third Team) *Jake Richard (2016 Third Team) *Mason Woodward (2021 Honorable Mention)

Big East Coach of the Year

*Joe Amplo (2014)

Big East Defensive Player of the Year

*Liam Byrnes (2016) *Noah Richard (2019)

First-Team All-Big East Selections

*B.J. Grill (2014, 2015) *Tyler Melnyk (2014) *Liam Byrnes (2015, 2016) *Kyle Whitlow (2015) *Ryan McNamara (2016, 2017) *Noah Richard (2018, 2019) *John Wagner (2018) *Nick Grill (2019) *Tanner Thomson (2019) *Devon Cowan (2021) *Mason Woodward (2021)

Golden Eagles in the Pros

Six Golden Eagles have been drafted in the

Major League Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff f ...

Draft, six in the

National Lacrosse League The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is a men's professional box lacrosse league in North America. The league is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The NLL currently has fifteen teams: ten in the United Stat ...

Draft and one in the

Premier Lacrosse League Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is an American professional field lacrosse league, composed of 8 teams. The league's inaugural season debuted on June 1, 2019, and included a 14-week tour-based schedule taking place in 12 major-market cities. The le ...

Draft. The following Golden Eagles players were selected in the

Draft: {, class= "wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! Player !! Year !! Team , - , Liam Byrnes , , 2016 , ,

Florida Launch The Florida Launch were a professional men's field lacrosse team based in Boca Raton, Florida. They joined Major League Lacrosse (MLL) as an expansion team for the 2014 season until 2019. The team played its home games at Florida Atlantic Univer ...

, - , Jake Richard , , 2016 , ,

New York Lizards The New York Lizards, originally the Long Island Lizards, were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) team based in Hempstead, New York, located on Long Island. They are original members of the MLL. They lost the league's inaugural game on June 7, 2001 to ...

, - , B.J. Grill , , 2016 , ,

Denver Outlaws The Denver Outlaws were a Major League Lacrosse professional men's field lacrosse team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They began playing in the MLL in 2006 as an expansion team. Since joining the league, the Outlaws have played in the ...

, - , Ryan McNamara , , 2017 , ,

Rochester Rattlers Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom * Rochester, Kent **City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area **History of Rochester, Kent **HM Prison R ...

, - , Andy DeMichiei , , 2017 , ,

Ohio Machine The Ohio Machine were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Obetz, Ohio. They first played in the 2012 MLL season and continued through the 2018 season. On August 19, 2017, the Machine won their first cha ...

, - , Noah Richard , , 2019 , ,

Chesapeake Bayhawks The Chesapeake Bayhawks were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Annapolis, Maryland since 2010. They played in the greater Baltimore metro area beginning with the MLL's inaugural 2001 season, as the Balti ...

, - , Luke Anderson , , 2020 , , Chesapeake Bayhawks The following Golden Eagles players were selected in the

Draft: {, class= "wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! Player !! Year !! Team , - , Tyler Melnyk , , 2014 , ,

Edmonton Rush The Edmonton Rush were a professional lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) that played from 2006 NLL season to 2015. The team announced on July 20, 2015, that they would be relocating to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for the 2016 sea ...

, - , Andrew Smistad , , 2014 , ,

Calgary Roughnecks The Calgary Roughnecks are a professional box lacrosse team based in Calgary, Alberta. They are members of the Western Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and play their home games on WestJet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome. The te ...

, - , Liam Byrnes , , 2016 , ,

Georgia Swarm The Georgia Swarm are a box lacrosse team in the East Division of the National Lacrosse League. They have been playing at the 13,000-seat Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia since their 2016 season. Originally formed as the 2002 expansion Montre ...

, - , Kyle Whitlow , , 2016 , ,

Colorado Mammoth The Colorado Mammoth are a box lacrosse team playing in the National Lacrosse League. The Mammoth have played at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, since the 2003 season. They are owned by Stan Kroenke, who is also the owner of the Colorado Avalanch ...

, - , Tanner Thomson , , 2019 , ,

Saskatchewan Rush The Saskatchewan Rush are a professional box lacrosse team based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Formerly the Edmonton Rush, they are members of the Western Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and play their home games on Co-op Fie ...

, - , John Wagner , , 2019 , ,

New York Riptide The New York Riptide are a professional box lacrosse franchise based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the East Division of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). They play home games at Nassau Coliseum and began their first season in 2019 ...

, - , Connor McClelland , , 2020 , ,

The following Golden Eagles players were selected in the

Draft: {, class= "wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - ! Player !! Year !! Team , - , Noah Richard , , 2019 , ,

Atlas Lacrosse Club The Atlas Lacrosse Club is a professional men's field lacrosse team in Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). The Atlas are one of the six founding members of the PLL for the 2019 season. Roster Source: (C): Captain Coaching staff * Head Coach – St ...

References

{{Big East Conference men's lacrosse navbox Marquette Golden Eagles Big East Conference men's lacrosse Lacrosse clubs established in 2013