Marquette Golden Eagles men's lacrosse

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Founded2011; 15 years ago (2011)
Head coachJake Richard (since 2024 season)
StadiumValley Fields
(capacity: 2,000)
Marquette Golden Eagles
men's lacrosse
Founded2011; 15 years ago (2011)
UniversityMarquette University
Head coachJake Richard (since 2024 season)
StadiumValley Fields
(capacity: 2,000)
LocationMilwaukee, Wisconsin
ConferenceBig East
NicknameGolden Eagles
ColorsBlue and gold[1]
   
NCAA Tournament appearances
(2) - 2016, 2017
Conference Tournament championships
(2) - 2016, 2017

The Marquette Golden Eagles men's lacrosse team represents Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and competes in the Big East Conference of NCAA Division I. The Golden Eagles play their home games at Valley Fields starting in 2016 and were formerly coached by Joe Amplo.

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, 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.[2]

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,[3] and 6–10 in the second season.[3] It was 2015 when Amplo and his team started turning heads.

Marquette started its season defeating two straight ranked opponents, No. 18/16 Lehigh [4] and No. 17/19 Hofstra.[5] On February 16 the Golden Eagles entered the media and coaches' top 20 for the first time in program history.[6] They would move as high as 9th in the media poll.[7]

However, Marquette couldn't hold on down the stretch. Losses to Georgetown,[8] Bellarmine,[9] Notre Dame,[10] Duke [11] and Denver [12] 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.[13]

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.[14] The Tar Heels would go on to defeat Maryland 14-13 in overtime for their first NCAA title since 1991.[15]

All-time head coaches

YearsHead coachRecordPostseason
2012–2019Joe Amplo52-530–2
2020-2024Andrew Stimmel21-410–0
2025-Jake Richard12-110—0
Total82-1030–2

Season results

The following is a list of Marquette's results by season as an NCAA Division I program:

Season Coach Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Joe Amplo (Independent) (2012–2013)
2013 Joe Amplo 5–8
Joe Amplo (Big East Conference) (2014–2019)
2014 Joe Amplo 6–104–22nd
2015 Joe Amplo 10–63–23rd
2016 Joe Amplo 11–54–12ndNCAA Division I First Round
2017 Joe Amplo 8–82–34thNCAA Division I First Round
2018 Joe Amplo 6–83–2T–2nd
2019 Joe Amplo 6–82–35th
Joe Amplo: 52–53 (.495)18–13 (.581)
Andrew Stimmel (Big East Conference) (2020–2024)
2020 Andrew Stimmel 3–40–0
2021 Andrew Stimmel 4–83–7T–4th
2022 Andrew Stimmel 4–112–34th
2023 Andrew Stimmel 6–81–45th
2024 Andrew Stimmel 4–100–55th
Andrew Stimmel: 21–41 (.339)6–19 (.240)
Jake Richard (Big East Conference) (2025–2026)
2025 Jake Richard 7–72–3t4th
2026 Jake Richard 6–42-0TBD
Jake Richard: 12-11 (.522)4-3 (.571)
Total:85-105 (.441)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

†NCAA canceled 2020 collegiate activities due to the COVID-19 virus.

Awards

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)
  • Bobby O'Grady (2022)
  • Devon Cowan (2021, 2023)
  • Mason Woodward (2021, 2023, 2024)

Golden Eagles in the Pros

References

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