In its third Big East game this season, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (8-2, 3-0 Big East) downed the talented Loyola Greyhounds (5-6, 2-1 Big East) — defending league champions — in a 14-11 thriller. The parity between the teams was apparent from the start, as they traded leads for most of the game; in total, the score was tied at seven different points during the contest, but theHoyas were able to control the tempo at the end of the game to seal the victory.

The Blue and Gray started fast when junior midfielder Meghan Farrell, assisted by senior attack Rosie Corcoran, notched the first score 20 seconds into the game. Six minutes later, Georgetown extended its lead when senior midfielder Sophia Thomas scored her first of four goals.

Loyola then went on a 4-0 run to take the lead before senior attack Dina Jackson, sophomore attack Caroline Tarzian and junior midfielder Kelyn Freedman scored consecutive goals in under three minutes. The Greyhounds then answered to tie the score at five goals apiece.  In the waning minutes of the first half, both teams scored off free-position shots to enter the half with the score knotted at six.

At the break, Head Coach Ricky Fried’s advice for his team was the same as it has been all year.

“I told them pretty much what we always talk about. [There were] a couple of things that we wanted to focus on; primarily, staying focused and making sure we weren’t giving the ball away. We had too many unforced turnovers,” Fried said. “Really, it was just to maintain what we were doing and keep working hard.”

The Hoyas got the message loud and clear, outshooting the Greyhounds 14-10 in the second half. However, Loyola kept it close, trading leads with Georgetown until midway through the second half, when the Hoyas took an 11-10 lead — thanks to another goal by Thomas — and never relinquished it.

Though Loyola managed to get one more goal on the board, the last 10 minutes of the game belonged to the Hoyas as they scored two more of their own and held the Greyhounds scoreless to end the game. Fried credits his team’s tenacity in finding the strength to close out close and tough game.

“I think that we have a team that wears people down. People come out really sharp and strong, and I thought our kids did a great job of just believing in what we were doing, maintaining the attention level and continuing to push forward,” Fried said.

Fried acknowledged the evenness of the game and was pleased with the way his team responded to the intensity.

“We knew going in that we were evenly matched. They are in a position where they kind of need a win a little bit more than we do, so we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Fried said. “I felt pretty comfortable with how we were playing, even with the layoff, so I thought we wore them down and then really took charge of the tempo about midway through the second half.”

Though Georgetown is tied for second with Syracuse in the Big East standings, Fried says it is too early to speculate on the Hoyas’ chances of winning the conference title at the season’s end.

“Looking at the scores from this weekend, everyone [in the Big East] is playing well. There have been very competitive games, so while we are optimistic about where we are, we also realize that we need to focus on how we play and play at that level on a consistent basis,” Fried said.

The Hoyas continue conference play next weekend against Marquette and Notre Dame.