Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

WOMEN’S LACROSSE | GU Defeats Vanderbilt, Edges UConn in Final Seconds

AMANDA VAN ORDEN/ THE HOYA
Current Big East Midfielder of the Week sophomore Natalia Lynch supported the team with two goals and one assist during Tuesdays win over UCONN.

Last week, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team won two games, first giving a dominating performance against Vanderbilt and then edging out a game against the University of Connecticut, to extend its winning streak to five. On Saturday, the Hoyas downed the Vanderbilt Commodores 15-9 in Nashville, Tenn., moving to. The win placed Georgetown in a tie for second place standing in the Big East with three more conference games to play in the regular season.

Against Vanderbilt (8-7, 3-4 Big East) on Saturday, the Hoyas (10-4, 6-1 Big East) scored the first goal of the game in under 30 seconds and did not trail for the rest of the hour. Vanderbilt tied it up right away, settling the score at 1-1 three minutes later — the only time when the score was tied for the entire game.

Eight Hoyas had points in the campaign against the Commodores, and junior attack Taylor Gebhardt and junior goalie Haelle Chomo surpassed 100 goals and saves, respectively. Gebhardt led the squad with seven points, consisting of six goals and an assist. Her assist was the only one of the day for the Hoyas; the rest of their 14 goals were unassisted, and two were scored on free position opportunities. Junior attack Morgan Ryan and sophomore midfielder Liza Liotta had two goals each.

Sophomore attack Michaela Bruno, sophomore midfielder Natalia Lynch, graduate student attack Cristina McCarthy, junior attack Mariah Matheis and freshman midfielder Mary Pagano each notched one goal as well.

Head Coach Ricky Fried said he was glad to see his team execute so well on both ends of the field.

“I’m happy with our progress today as a team. We executed on both ends of the field, so I’m pleased with the performance overall,” Fried said.

Gebhardt’s third goal of the game was her 100th career goal, and she is one of only 17 players to tally 100 in program history. With 10 saves against the Vanderbilt attacking unit, Chomo became the 15th Hoya to save 100 shots. Both players will look to up their individual counts as they finish out the season and prepare for another full year of lacrosse.

Georgetown returned to action Wednesday at home on Cooper Field to face another conference foe, defeating UConn 15-14 in a hard-fought nail-biter that came down to the final seconds.

The game was intense throughout and saw 46 fouls in total, 29 committed by the Hoyas. The two teams were tied for ground balls with 21 apiece. Aside from 0-0 at the start, the game was tied seven different times.

Gebhardt scored the first two goals of the game for Georgetown, but UConn quickly answered with one of its own. Georgetown senior midfielder Hannah Seibel scored soon after, seemingly to secure her team’s lead, but the Huskies went on a four-goal run, their second longest of the day, to put them up by two.

Georgetown answered with four more, scored by Lynch, Ryan, McCarthy and freshman midfielder Caroline Frock. The four were broken up by a single UConn goal. Then, UConn scored again before Georgetown went on its longest scoring spree of the day. The Hoyas scored four straight, one before the half and three right after, to lead 11-7. Lynch scored before the half, and McCarthy, Ryan and Seibel netted one each during the run after the half.

After a bizarre shot that appeared to hit a Georgetown defender, UConn suddenly gained momentum and scored six unrequited goals to regain the lead, 13-11, with just under 10 minutes left in regulation. The Hoyas rallied to tie it up again. With just under three minutes to play, senior attack Sarah Cheney finessed one into the cage off a quick feed from Bruno.

Fried said he told his team to be more disciplined amid UConn’s comeback.

“We have to play to our standard and be more disciplined,” Fried said. “We got out of our game. We got reactive, and that didn’t serve us very well, so we need to be more disciplined, and if we are disciplined, we’ll play the way we’re capable, to our standard.”

UConn tied it up for the last time with just around two minutes left to play. Lynch secured the final two draw controls, one of which came after the Hoyas were back on top. Lynch also raked in a ground ball.

With a minute left to play, UConn received a yellow card, putting Georgetown at an advantage as the clock ran out. Gebhardt scored her 44th goal of the season with under 30 seconds left to play off an assist from Frock.

Chomo had 12 saves against the Huskies; Fried credits her with anchoring the defense despite some errors and hopes she will have to do less going forward.

The Hoyas will try to extend their winning streak to six this weekend at home against Marquette. The Hoyas take to Cooper Field at noon Saturday in yet another conference showdown.

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