Marquette Women’s Lacrosse Preview: vs Butler

CAR DOG | Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Marquette women’s lacrosse can not clinch a Big East tournament berth on their own on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles come into the weekend at 2-2 in the league. That has them tied for third place behind a tie for first between Denver and Georgetown at 4-0. However, because Marquette is tied with Villanova, the team they beat two weeks ago, that means MU is holding onto third place in the conference.

This is good news, but a win on Senior Day only moves Marquette to 3-2. That still leaves the Golden Eagles exposed to the possibility of losing to UConn next week, and the Huskies are 2-3 with only the game against Marquette left to go. A UConn win would mean a tie at 3-3 and the Huskies would have the tiebreaker over the Golden Eagles. Mix in Villanova upsetting Georgetown and closing out on the road against Butler next week, and that’s how you end up with Marquette getting left out in fifth place.

With that said, it is possible that by the time Marquette starts off against Butler at 2pm on Saturday, things may have shifted in their favor. A Georgetown win on Saturday in a game that starts at 10am Central would drop Villanova to 2-3, and since Marquette holds that tiebreaker, that might be enough to assist the Golden Eagles to a clinch with a victory. UConn already beat Villanova, so a three-way tie at 3-3 would mean UConn goes through at 2-0 against the other two and Marquette goes through at 1-1 with Villanova at 0-2.

I think that’s right.

You know what? Best if Marquette just beats Butler — a team that you need to be able to beat if you want to be in the Big East tournament anyway — and then worries about what happens with the Huskies next week, right? Right.

Here, some good news: Dani Serrano already has the eighth most assists in a Marquette season with two regular season games left to go. The freshman from Maryland has already set herself on a pace to break Mary Schumar’s career record for helpers, so anything she does as the season wraps up only helps that track out. At 56 total points, she hasn’t quite cracked the top 10 in that department yet, but Tess Osburn’s 64 from last year isn’t that far off.

BY THE WAY: This game is the second half of a Senior Day doubleheader on Saturday, with the men’s lacrosse team starting at 11am Central. That means they should be wrapped up around 1pm, but if that game against Villanova turns into a fireworks factory, it might run longer. If you’re only headed out for the women’s game, build yourself a little extra travel time to figure out your parking situation in the Valley. As far as I know, the plan is to play both games outdoors on the western grass field, so finding a seat in the stadium shouldn’t be a problem….. unless the rain this week continues and decides to alter the plan.

Big East Game #5: vs Butler Bulldogs (3-11, 0-4 Big East)

Date: Saturday, April 18, 2026
Time: 2pm Central
Location: Valley Fields, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast

Marquette is a perfect 9-0 all time against Butler. The series started in 2017 when the Bulldogs launched their program and joined the Big East, and the two sides have played league matches since. The closest margin in any of the nine games is six goals, which happened in both 2021 (16-10) and 2023 (22-16). Marquette is coming off a 16-5 win in Indianapolis a year ago.

Butler has lost six games in a row coming into this weekend and eight of their last nine. They have yet to score 10 goals in a Big East contest, coming closest in their 14-9 loss to Xavier that is likely to land the Bulldogs in last place in the conference this season. The wild part about that? Butler led 5-1 in the first quarter and 6-3 at the end of the opening 15 minutes. Hot starts for BU are not the trend in Big East action, so if Marquette can stop that from happening, that’s probably a good sign on what direction this is going to end up going.

Shutting down Riley Ryan and Elise Latham are the top items of the day for Marquette. Ryan, a junior from Ohio, is their leading point getter, using 19 goals and a team high 18 assists to get to 37 points. She’s the only Bulldog with more than seven assists this season, so stop her passing and you’ve made Butler a much more one-dimensional team. Elise Latham is presumably the biggest beneficiary of those 18 assists, as she has a team high 33 goals on the year. UConn and Denver both held her scoreless while Xavier let in four strikes from the senior from Indianapolis. Still, that’s good enough to stand in sixth place int he league in goals per game this season.

Samantha Wilson has taken on every minute in net for Butler this year. As you’d expect, the stats are not great for the 5’10” freshman from Florida. There’s more that goes into her 13.95 goals allowed per 60 minutes than just Wilson’s own play, but she’s stopping less than 39% of shots on goal this year. Marquette ranks 20th in the country in shooting percentage this season, sending nearly 47% of their shots into the net. 60 minutes of What You Want To See from the Golden Eagles should be enough to carry the day on the offensive end of the field.

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