FIELD HOCKEY | Unbeaten UConn Looms on Road Trip

The Georgetown field hockey team (2-12, 0-3 Big East) fell to conference foe Rutgers (7-6, 1-3 Big East) Friday and Ivy League opponent Cornell (5-6, 2-1 Ivy League) Sunday, adding to their troubles with five games remaining in the season.

Despite the third Big East loss, Head Coach Tiffany Marsh said that the Blue and Gray remained in high spirits, knowing the Rutgers game had been about more than just the results on the field.

Designated as a Stick-it-to-Cancer fundraising game, the Hoyas’ matchup with the Scarlet Knights helped to raise over $11,000 to benefit the National Foundation for Cancer Research.

“We were playing for a bigger reason during that game,” Marsh said. “There was a bigger picture.”

When the on-field activities got underway, Georgetown came out strong, outshooting Rutgers, 8-5, and dominating the run of play in the first half. Senior forward Annie Wilson got the Hoyas on the board first with a goal less than five minutes in, and that slim advantage held for most of the first half.

A response by the visitors a few minutes before the break, though, sent the teams to the locker rooms knotted at one.

The second 35 minutes were an entirely different story. The Scarlet Knights registered a whopping 18 shots in the period, four of which ultimately found their way into the back of the net. Georgetown, meanwhile, did not get a single shot off and ultimately fell, 5-1.

Senior Night festivities before Georgetown faced Cornell were dampened by the opposite problem. The Hoyas but up two goals in the first half yet only one in the second half.

Despite their improved defense and ball possession in the second, the Blue and Gray still could not get enough going offensively in their eventual 3-1 defeat.

“We just couldn’t put together a full 70 minutes,” Marsh said. “We’re trying to put together the missing pieces.”

Next up for the Hoyas are back-to-back games this weekend in Connecticut, as they face No. 4 UConn (13-0, 4-0 Big East) Saturday before a Sunday date with Fairfield (7-7, 0-2 America East).

According to Marsh, this week’s practices will focus on the fundamentals as her team prepares to battle the Huskies.

“We’re going to see a new pace, we’re going to see a different style of play [and] we’re going to have to do our basics really well,” Marsh said.

The Huskies are sure to test the Hoyas in all phases of the game, but Marsh noted several shaky wins for Connecticut that give her hope of pulling out the upset.

Less than 24 hours after the final whistle against UConn, Georgetown will take on Fairfield on the Stags’ home field.

“That game is a very winnable game for us if we bring what we can to the table,” Marsh said.

The Hoyas, then, will look to finally put together a couple of complete performances this weekend. They face the Huskies at noon Saturday before a quick turnaround to play Fairfield at 1 p.m. Sunday.