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At the beginning of the 2018 season, John Wagner had no idea he’d be where he is today. Really, no one saw it playing out quite like this.

But here we are.

It was a wild scene inside Valley Fields on April 14, where Marquette has played its home games. The Golden Eagles had stormed back from down four goals with 1:37 left to force overtime — an achievement in itself. Wagner scored two of the final four goals of regulation and owned four game-winning goals prior to the game against the Friars.

He joined coach Joe Amplo, offensive coordinator Stephen Brundage and assistant Ryan Brown on the sideline before overtime.

“The three of us asked John what he wanted to do,” Amplo said. “That’s the trust we have in him and that’s the trust he has in himself. That’s a cool thing to have in a coach-player relationship.”

“We knew that once we got to overtime that we were taking the game home,” Wagner said.

It’s no wonder how Wagner and his coaches had the utmost confidence going into an overtime period that could have been a big blow in the Golden Eagles’ postseason hopes. Wagner had come up big against Jacksonville, then in overtime against Ohio State, Georgetown and St. John’s.

The coaches knew who would take the final shot. The players had a good idea. Providence probably predicted who’d have the ball in his stick. Coming from right to left, Wagner got a pick off of a long-stick midfielder, giving him enough separation to rip home the game-winning goal just over a minute into overtime, sending the fans and players in the bubble into a frenzy.

Number Five. He did it again.

Marquette picked up its sixth win of the season — five of which came off Wagner’s stick — and moved to 3-1 in the Big East, with all three of those wins due in part to a Wagner winner. Although this team has made an effort to move on from each win and loss, it’s tough to ignore the significance of Wagner’s run of game-winning goals.

“Of course, we're all just looking around thinking this is incredible,” Brundage said. “I don’t know if I’ve seen this happen in terms of these late-game heroics. That's what sports are all about. That’s why we do this, right? You see a kid that wants to get it done and is confident he can get it done. He’s doing everything he can to make a play for his team.”

Admittedly, Wagner said it’s hard to wrap his head around the season he has had.

“You don’t realize you have five game-winners until you get all these questions,” he said. “The plays that we’ve drawn up aren’t always designed for me to score the goal, but I guess you get a little tunnel vision. Every single play, it’s been me going over the top and trying to draw the slide and then looking for the open the guy. I’ve ended up shooting them most of the time. If it goes in the net, I’m not going to complain, but it’s a whole different story if it doesn’t.”

Through the course of the season, Wagner has become the leader that the Golden Eagles have needed. A native of St. Davids, Ontario, who attended Michigan’s Cranbrook-Kingswood High School, he’s excelled both on and off the field, holding a grade point average that nears 3.8. He’s a Detroit Red Wings fan, much at the behest of his friends back home. 

Wagner is a part of Marquette’s Applied Investment Management program. He already has a summer internship lined up at Lazard Middle Markets, a financial services company in Minneapolis, and he’s eyeing New York after he graduates. According to Amplo, Wagner is already trying to dress the part.

“As tough as he is, he’s a little bit of a prima donna, just the way he dresses and looks,” Amplo joked. “We’re kind of tooting his horn a little bit too much. He thinks he’s on Wall Street already. He’s not there yet. I tell him, ‘You’re not the complete package because your shoes are terrible.’ His suit and his overcoat and his tie look sharp, but once you get to the guy’s feet, you truly know what he’s about. He’s got to up his shoe game if he wants to be the complete package.”

So at least he has a few things to work on. In addition to keeping his grades up, Wagner has continued to develop his game at Marquette.

When he got to Marquette, Wagner had only played three years of field lacrosse. (He grew up on box lacrosse, as many Canadians do.) He starred at Cranbrook during his senior year —scoring five goals, including the game-winner with 18 seconds left to clinch the state title. It was a sign of things to come.

With a track record in lacrosse and hockey, a sport he also played at Cranbrook, it wasn’t hard to see his potential.

“He’s big, strong, athletic, left-handed and Canadian,” Amplo said. “Usually, if we get one of those, we’ll take him, but we got all five. We said absolutely, this kid is a no-brainer.”

He joined the Golden Eagles as a raw, unorthodox player that certainly had the confidence needed to play in a Division I program. It took about a season to bring his game to that level. 

After showing positive signs toward the end of the 2016 season (and playing in the 2016 FIL U19 World Championship with Team Canada), Wagner blossomed on the field in 2017. He started all 16 games on attack, scoring 22 goals and adding three assists for a Marquette team that advanced to the NCAA tournament. He had four goals in the Big East semifinal upset of Denver, and added a hat trick in the NCAA tournament first-round loss to Notre Dame.

Wagner was ready to take on a bigger role in the Marquette offense, but a season-ending injury to senior Tanner Thomson forced open a void entering the 2018 season. Wagner knew someone had to step up for the Golden Eagles, but who would take the initiative?

He knew he was one of the leaders, but it took a while for him to become the leader. He opened the season with a game-winner with seven seconds remaining against Jacksonville. Two weeks later, he delivered the overtime game-winner to clinch an 8-7 win over Ohio State, right-handed he’ll add.

Marquette followed the upset of Ohio State with three straight losses. The offense put up a total of 15 goals in those games. Something needed to change. Someone needed to take charge.

Something clicked for Wagner during a practice before the Big East opener against Georgetown.

“That week of practice, it was like, in order for us to really take a step in the right direction, it’s got to begin with someone,” he said. “Once I buy in, then people behind me that look up to me will follow. It was that week I was like, ‘Alright, I have nothing to lose here. I have to step up as a leader.’”

The cycle of leadership was turning again in his favor. At Cranbrook, Wagner played under Matt Giampetroni (Duke) and Taylor Ghesquiere (Wesleyan) before taking over the offense. He served as an understudy to Ryan McNamara and Thomson for his first two years.

Now, he decided it was his time to take control. 

“I don’t think he realized the burden of responsibility he was going to have early on,” Amplo said of Wagner. “Now, he feels it and accepts it and he’s turned himself into a true leader. He wants those moments. He wants the ball in his stick in crunch time.”

Marquette won the ensuing game against Georgetown — coming, fittingly, off the stick of Wagner with 3:25 left in the first overtime period. Since then, the Golden Eagles have gone loss-win-loss-win-loss, with both of the victories coming in overtime.

First came the win over St. John’s, where Wagner came from the right and fired home the clincher milliseconds before absorbing a forceful hit. He’ll take it. 

He made it five game-winners against Providence, scoring two of the final four goals in regulation and finishing it off with the goal just over a minute into the overtime period. 

And he didn’t just show up during the victories. He had a would-be game-winner against Notre Dame on April 11 before the Fighting Irish stormed back for two goals in the final minute to steal the game.

Wagner was a solid returning player entering 2018, but has become the go-to man for Marquette, and they aren’t trying to conceal that fact.

“It’s no secret,” Brundage said. “Our team knows, our staff knows, our opponent should know. He’s clearly the best guy on the offensive side of the field for us.”

The nickname of “Johnny Clutch” soon became attached to Wagner. He has no idea where it started, but he’d like to end it as soon as possible.

“Not a huge fan,” he said.

And even though he’s been so successful as a lefty attackman, Amplo believes he’d fit better at midfield.

“I do think he’s playing out of position, ironically,” he said. “I think he’s more suited to play midfield in the field game than the left-handed attack spot. But he’s found a way to make it work at his position this year. It’s a testament to how tough he is and how much he believes in himself.”

If Wagner keeps up this run of game-winners, it might be hard to move him, or change his nickname. If history is an indicator, Wagner will find himself with a chance to win another game this season. Since it became a Division I program, Marquette 21 of Marquette’s 45 wins have come by one goal. 

Wagner, the player that given Marquette five of its six wins and has scored more than 25 percent of his team’s goals this season, would prefer a blowout. That doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy the ride.

“The one-goal games kind of speak to the program that we are,” he said. “The one-goal games are always more fun.”