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

Women’s Lacrosse | GU Controls Pace in Road Win

FILE PHOTO: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA Junior attack Colleen Lovett scored a second consecutive hat trick in Georgetown’s 10-5 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. Lovett currently has eight goals and four assists this season.
FILE PHOTO: CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA
Junior attack Colleen Lovett scored a second consecutive hat trick in Georgetown’s 10-5 win over Cincinnati on Saturday. Lovett currently has eight goals and four assists this season.

The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (5-8, 3-1 Big East) earned its second consecutive win in conference play on the road Saturday, when it topped Cincinnati (4-10, 0-4 Big East). The Hoyas closed the match with a 10-5 victory and are now 8-0 against the Bearcats since the series began in 2009.

Head Coach Ricky Fried said the Hoyas played with increased confidence after beating Villanova (3-12, 1-4 Big East) 18-7 Wednesday evening in a matchup that saw nine different Hoyas score.

“[The Villanova win] definitely gave us confidence as a team; we did a lot of things really well in that game and I think that carried over, definitely,” Fried said.

Riding the momentum from that win, the Hoyas started out strong against the Bearcats from the opening faceoff, scoring the first five goals of the matchup. Two of the five were free position goals, both scored by senior midfielder and co-captain Kristen Bandos.

“We practice free position shots almost every single day,” Bandos said. “You really have to capitalize on those goals, and that’s been something I’ve been working on all year, so I was really happy about that.”

The Hoyas maintained their lead for the entirety of the game. Cincinnati attempted to reduce the deficit, and redshirt senior attack Megan Bell scored the final two goals of the first half in an attempt to cut down the Georgetown lead. The score at the half was 6-4 in the Hoyas’ favor.

The second half started off slow and remained scoreless for around 10 minutes before Georgetown went on a four-goal run. Two of the four goals were scored by junior attack Colleen Lovett, who sparked a run that mirrored the intensity of the first half.

“In the beginning of the second half, when things weren’t going our way, I think it just motivated me to try to get a rally going,” Lovett said.

After the four-goal run, the Hoyas were up by six with just around five minutes left in regulation. The Bearcats added the last goal of the game off a free position shot, ending the game at the final score of 10-5. Georgetown senior goalkeeper Megan McDonald made six saves during her half in the net.

Six Hoyas scored in the effort against the Bearcats. Lovett was the team’s leading scorer for the game, tallying her second consecutive hat trick.

“I’m just happy because I haven’t played in a few games, I’ve been out with an injury, so coming back has given me confidence,” Lovett said. “It’s definitely been encouraging to be able to help the team.”

Freshman midfielder Francesca Whitehurst and Bandos each added two goals to the count. Sophomore midfielder Georgia Tunney, graduate attack Morgan Rubin and senior attack and co-captain Corinne Etchison all contributed one.

FILE PHOTO: NAAZ MODAN/THE HOYA Senior midfielder Kristen Bandos scored two goals and had one assist in Georgetown’s 10-5 win over Cincinnati on Saturday.
FILE PHOTO: NAAZ MODAN/THE HOYA
Senior midfielder Kristen Bandos scored two goals and had one assist in Georgetown’s 10-5 win over Cincinnati on Saturday.

Fried said that his offensive unit brings crucial depth and skill to the field.

“We emphasize that we’re not going to try to rely on a couple people, and I think that’s given people confidence to take shots when they get them. It makes us harder to defend because there are more threats,” Fried said.

Much of the Hoyas’ offensive success stemmed from quality possession of the ball. Georgetown won 10 out of 16 draws, eight of which were in the first half. Georgetown also had fewer fouls than Cincinnati and only had 16 turnovers to Cincinnati’s 20. Eleven out of Georgetown’s 12 clear attempts were successful.

“[Clearing is] a point of emphasis because it’s going to dictate possession for us,” Fried said. “It’s something that we worked on and it’s something that the girls have taken pride in. And, clearly it has carried over to game day and has helped us limit the other team’s possession.”

Georgetown also played well on the defensive end, with Cincinnati only scoring two settled goals over the entire game.

Georgetown will continue conference play Wednesday in Storrs, Conn., when it plays the University of Connecticut (11-2, 5-0 Big East).

Last season, the Hoyas and the Huskies met in two close matchups. Georgetown topped UConn 13-12 in the teams’ regular season matchup, but the Huskies came away with an 11-10 victory over the Hoyas out in the semifinals of the Big East tournament.

Currently, UConn is riding on a four-game win streak. Most recently, UConn beat conference opponent Vanderbilt (5-9, 1-4 Big East) Saturday 13-10 at home.

Opening faceoff is set for 3 p.m. Wednesday.

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