CHESTERFIELD – Marquette senior Audra Yoder calls the spot behind the opposing net “my house.”
It is where she calms the chaos encountered in the midfield, sets the table on offense and feeds her teammates.
“I live there,” Yoder said. “Bringing the ball down low is really important. It helps us settle.”
Yoder dished out seven assists, each originating from her “house,” and junior Katie Morgenthaler and sophomore Marin Lally combined to score seven goals as the Mustangs earned an impressive 15-3 victory over O’Fallon Thursday in a girls lacrosse game in Chesterfield.
Marquette (7-3), whose seventh win eclipsed its total from last season, received goals from seven different players, including two-goal efforts from senior Joyce Liu and junior Madelyn Haas.
“We’re all clicking on our game right now and working together, and it’s looking really good,” Morgenthaler said.
Yoder set the foundation for Marquette’s dominant performance on Thursday.
Wearing her green captain’s band around her ankle, Yoder communicated directions from behind the net, availed herself to receive the ball and delivered pinpoint passes to cutting teammates.
She located Morgenthaler and Lally in a 1 minute 8 second span early in the first half, found Haas during a woman-up situation, and then delivered a strike to a cutting Morgenthaler to collect her fourth assist in the opening 11 minutes.
“Audra is always looking to create opportunities for other people,” said Lally, who scored four goals and has a team-high 29 for the season.
Even when Yoder scooped a ground ball on the perimeter, she made a beeline for her “house” to organize the Marquette offense.
“Audra is our playmaker. She always has the ball behind (the net) and she runs the tempo of our offense,” Marquette coach Renee Abrolet said. “She can really pick out those different cutters who are open and ready for the ball.”
Yoder found Morgenthaler in the closing minute of the first half, then delivered strikes to Lally and Liu midway through the second half to increase her assist total to seven. She only attempted two shots herself and none in the opening 30 minutes of the game.
“I know these girls have a ton of talent, and if I can get them the ball, that’s really what I care about,” Yoder said.
After Marquette junior Hailey Neuner made two strong saves during O’Fallon’s first possession of the game, the Mustangs did not allow the Panthers to touch the ball again until the score was 4-0 in favor of Marquette.
Haas and freshman Sydney Kronauge corralled balls sent airborne by Lally in the draw circle to provide a massive advantage in possession time for the Mustangs.
“Before the draw happens, I like to communicate with the girls in the circle and tell them whether I’m looking to give them the ball or release it behind me,” Lally said.
The Marquette quickness around the draw circle expanded to the rest of the field as seniors Lexi Kossmann and Jessica Kellerman intercepted passes on the defensive end, and Liu and Lally led the ride on the offensive end.
“When (the opponent) gets the ball, that’s when we turn it on,” Lally said. “We know we have to work twice as hard to get the ball back.”
O’Fallon (9-5), which experienced a pair of four-game winning streaks this season, shook off a seven-goal Marquette blitz to open the game with two goals midway through the first half.
After the Panthers forced an offensive zone turnover, leading scorer Gracie Favela wrapped around the net to put O’Fallon on the scoreboard. Exactly one minute later, junior Lexi Prindable closed the deficit to 7-2 by finishing a 50-yard sprint with 11:28 remaining until intermission.
“That was great. When we click, we click, and we can play some beautiful lacrosse. We’re just working on doing it consistently,” O’Fallon coach Alex Prindable said.
But the speed and tenacity of Marquette proved to be too much. The Mustangs closed the first half with two goals, then scored the first six goals of the second half, with junior Olivia Buer and senior Marisa Hale joining Kronauge, Liu and Lally on the scoresheet in the final 25 minutes.
“We’re seeing a lot more scorers stepping up and that’s great because we’re going to need a diverse offense in order to succeed in the playoffs,” Lally said.
Marquette will play a final regular-season game at Lafayette on May 10 before embarking on a postseason journey that has concluded in the Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association state semifinals in two of the previous four seasons, including a state runner-up finish in 2018.
“On the back of our (warm-up) shirts, it says, ‘Make it Happen,’ and on offense, defense and in the midfield, we like to step it up and make it happen,” Lally said.
And when it comes time to slow it down, relax and settle, the Marquette players know they always return to the comfort of their “house.”
