sPORTs
12 The MarqueTTe Tribune
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Blee’s leadership brings out team success in draw control Golden Eagles rank first in the nation in stat category By Emma Kroll
emma.kroll@marquette.edu
Before the start of every play, senior defender Mary Blee is supported by her teammates as she takes the draw and passes it off to either of the two waiting around the circle. “I will 100% start every game with my righty pull,” Blee said. “Our entire draw team is connected the entire game no matter who’s in no matter who’s out.” As the starting draw specialist for the team, Blee has taken on a leadership role in the unit. Something of which senior defender Ellie Henry said has translated into Marquette’s success this season. “Blee holds everyone around her to that standard of excellence,” Henry said. “Our draw team is number one in the country and that’s by no accident. Just the hard work she puts in, on and off the field, both studying and just the work of doing the job and continually getting
up.” Blee wasn’t always in the starting lineup though. Coming into her first year, Blee was considered a defender, but once the coaching staff found out about her previous experience with the draw team, they started to build her skill set. “I’ve been taking draws ever since I was in high school,” Blee said. “They automatically started considering me for it. I learned a lot from Emily Cooper, who was the draw specialist before me, and so my sophomore year I spent just learning from her and trying to fit into the draw team.” Assistant head coach Caitlin Wolf said that growing her in that aspect has been a goal since she arrived at Marquette. “She came in as a defender with a draw specialist, so throughout her four years, we’ve kind of pulled her from the defensive side and have solely focused on her draw skill and made that her main focus,” Wolf said. “That really benefited her and benefited our team.” Marquette is ranked first in draw controls per game amongst Division I schools through its
Photos courtesy of Marquette Athletics
LAST WEEK MGOLF at Loyola Intercollegiate......2nd MUBB at Butler..........................W, 72-56 MLAX at Detroit Mercy................W, 10-5 MTEN vs Depaul...........................W, 4-3 MTEN vs Eastern Illinois................W, 6-1 MUBB vs St. John’s....................W, 96-94 MUWBB at St. John’s*...............W, 57-47 WTEN vs Depaul............................L, 0-7 WLAX vs Detroit Mercy...............W, 26-4 MUWBB at UConn*....................L, 52-81 * denotes Big East WBB Tournament
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first four games. Blee said it is something that she hopes to continue throughout her senior season. “To continue finding success as a team and as a unit on the field,” Blee said. “Right now, our draw team is number one in the country, but I would love to stay at least top five.” There’s no lack of pride in that nationally-ranked draw team either. “There’s a joke that everyone wants to be on the draw team,” Wolf said. “Everyone’s always trying out for the draw team, they want to be part of it because of how much pride it has in the group and how much importance it has on the team.” With the hard work she put in, Blee has become more consistent to the point where Henry described a time every draw landed in the same spot. “It was SDSU game, I remember going out for several and the ball was consistently going to the same place,” Henry said. “The SDSU girl looks at me, she goes, ‘I have no idea where the ball is gonna go.’ And
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Photo courtesy of Marquette Athletics
Blee (19) runs through starting lineup introductions March 5.
Blee holds everyone around her to that standard of excellence...” Ellie Henry Senior Defender
I remember looking at her and being like, ‘oh, yeah, okay.’ Are you kidding me? It’s going to the same place every time.” Last season, Blee recorded 74 draws after only posting seven her sophomore season. Wolf credited the stat to Blee’s extra practice throughout the summer and season. “Mary put in a lot of time off the field, a lot of individual work with me working on different draws,” Wolf said. “She puts in a lot of work on the offseason
WIRE SPORTS ROUNDUP
AWARDS
STANDINGS
Big East Men’s Basketball
Ovr. Conf. Home Away Neut.
David Joplin MUBB No. 23 Sophomore forward David Joplin was named Big East Sixth Man of the Year Monday. He is the third Marquette player to win the award joining Davante Gardner and Andrew Rowsey. Joplin is fifth on the team in scoring (9.2 ppg) and 11th in the league in 3-pointers per game (1.8).
Michael Allieri MLAX No. 2 Junior goalkeeper Michael Allieri was named to the Big East Weekly Honor Roll this past week. Allieri finished with a season-high 17 saves and allowed just four goals in Marquette’s win over Detroit Mercy last week.
Marquette 25-6 Xavier 23-8 Creighton 20-11 UConn 24-7 Providence 21-10 Villanova 16-15 Seton Hall 17-14 St. John’s 17-14 Butler 14-17 DePaul 9-22 Georgetown 7-24
17-3 16-1 15-5 15-2 14-6 13-2 13-7 15-2 13-7 15-2 10-10 10-4 10-10 10-6 7-13 11-6 6-14 10-6 3-17 7-8 2-18 5-12
8-4 7-4 5-6 6-5 6-6 5-8 6-6 3-8 3-9 2-12 1-11
1-1 1-2 2-3 3-0 0-2 1-3 1-2 3-0 1-2 0-2 1-1
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Big East Women’s Basketball
at home. On her own time, she studies the draw, she’s very passionate about the skill set, and how much of an impact she can make on your team.” Blee has four different draws, but the most skilled is the selfdraw. “It’s really impressive to be able to get a self-draw and get it so cleanly and Bree has been absolutely killing it in that aspect,” Henry said. “Get this ball cleanly and safely. And then we can push the ball and score. That’s always the goal is how to get the ball off the field as fast as possible to get a goal off.” The passion Blee has for the draw team is what makes the team stronger and the trust instilled in that unit has spread to the entire team. “You see people who believe in each other and will have each other’s backs,” Blee said. “We’ve created a culture on our team where it’s a lot more we over me. And that’s how we find success is when we’re all connected and playing together.”
GAMES THIS WEEK
Ovr. Conf. Home Away Neut.
UConn 28-5 Villanova 27-5 Creighton 21-7 St. John’s 22-8 Marquette 21-10 Seton Hall 18-13 DePaul 16-17 Georgetown 14-17 Butler 11-19 Providence 13-19 Xavier 7-23
18-2 17-3 15-5 13-7 13-7 10-10 8-12 6-14 6-14 4-16 0-20
13-2 11-2 9-4 14-3 13-3 9-5 8-7 8-6 6-9 8-9 5-12
10-3 13-1 12-3 6-4 5-5 6-7 5-8 4-9 3-9 5-9 2-10
5-0 3-2 0-0 2-1 3-2 3-1 3-2 2-2 2-1 0-1 0-1
NEWS Marquette men’s basketball junior guard Tyler Kolek was named as one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award Monday by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Other finalists include: Boo Buie (Northwestern), Markquis Nowell (Kansas State), Jalen Picket (Penn State) and Yuri Collins (St. Louis). Fan voting begins on Friday, March 10, on hoophallawards.com
3/11 MLAX vs Bellarmine Valley Fields Dome
3/8-3/11
BIG EAST MBB TOURNEY Madison Square Garden New York, New York
3/12 WLAX at UC Davis Davis, California