Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Men’s Lacrosse | Second Half Comeback Effort Falls Short

Sophomore attack Daniel Bucaro scored a career-high six goals in Saturday's 11-10 loss to Towson. (COURTESY GUHOYAS)
Sophomore attack Daniel Bucaro scored a career-high six goals in Saturday’s 11-10 loss to Towson. (COURTESY GUHOYAS)

Facing its second NCAA quarterfinalist in a week, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team (0-3) dropped its third straight game to the Towson Tigers (2-0), suffering an 11-10 home loss Saturday.

The game started off sunny and bright, and Towson shot out a five-goal lead, but as the rain came, the Hoyas found their pace, allowing only one goal in the final two quarters and ending the game within one point of the Tigers.

“It’s tough because we lost, but we showed a lot of heart. And we left everything on the field. The message throughout this game was never give up, and fight back hard. We just gotta finish a game,” sophomore attack Daniel Bucaro said.

The opening half was all Towson, as the team came out strong scoring two goals, one by sophomore faceoff specialist Alex Woodall. Bucaro answered back with the first of his career-best six goals halfway through the period. However, that would be the sole Hoya goal in the half, as the Tigers nursed a 10-1 lead at half.

Head Coach Kevin Warne noted that the momentum shifts in the first half were partly due to the Hoyas adjusting to Woodall’s fast play, and gaining possession by changing its faceoff strategy.

“Faceoff dictates the flow of the game and we were not successful early on. If you’re not winning the ball, one of the things that you want to accomplish is making it a 3-on-3 game, and not allowing clean breaks, and we did that pretty well to get possession and get back in the game,” Warne said.

In the second half, Georgetown’s defense buckled down, allowing one Towson goal in the entire half. Led by senior defensemen and captains Charlie Ford and Michael Meyer, the defense forced 21 Towson turnovers and limited the Tigers to just 15 shots in the second half, a stark contrast to the 26 shots Towson took in the first half.

The Hoyas’ zone defense gave the Tigers trouble, and allowed the Hoya offense a chance to chip away at the lead. In the third period, Bucaro scored his fifth goal of the game, and redshirt junior attack Peter Conley added a laser shot to bring the game to within four going into the final quarter.

In the opening seconds of the final quarter, Bucaro took advantage of a man-up situation to score his sixth goal of the game, his career best. Then, in a 30-second span with just under nine minutes left in regulation, senior midfielder Eduardo White and Conley scored on back-to-back strikes from in front of the cage, bringing the Hoyas within one goal.

Down by one, the defense weathered five consecutive shots in one Towson possession. The Hoyas got the ball back with 1:17 left, but ultimately could not create a shot for Bucaro, who had his attempt blocked. Towson ran down the clock and escaped with a narrow 11-10 victory.

“We’re fine, all that matters is making it to May. It’s only three games at the beginning of the season, and we can definitely make a run,” Bucaro said.

Warne admired his star player’s work ethic and selfless commitment to the program’s success.

“He’ll be the first one to tell you that he’s disappointed that we lost. He couldn’t care less about individual accolades and he’d rather have a W. And he’d do anything for a win even if it meant he didn’t score a single point,” Warne said.

Georgetown continues its search for a victory when it faces Hofstra (2-0) on Saturday at Cooper Field. Opening faceoff is set for noon.

 

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