The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (6-9, 4-2 Big East) had a successful Senior Day on Saturday by topping conference opponent Marquette (6-10, 3-3 Big East) 13-12. The Hoyas are now 4-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles and 2-0 at home.

The team recognized its nine graduating players before the opening faceoff. Throughout the game, fans encouraged Georgetown’s seniors by chanting their names and holding up signs featuring photos of their faces.

The freshman standouts — attack Taylor Gebhardt and midfielder Francesca Whitehurst — each had three goals and one assist. Senior co-captain Corinne Etchison, graduate student attack Morgan Rubin and senior attack Kelsey Perselay all tallied two goals on their Senior Day. The Hoyas’ scoring outburst demonstrated the depth of the team’s offense, with eight players tallying points in the game. Four of the eight were seniors or graduate students.

After the win, Head Coach Ricky Fried praised his seniors for their performances on such a big day.

“It’s awesome. I’m really happy for them.  It’s a great way to end their regular season career on Cooper Field.  It’s really rewarding to be able to see them contribute. Senior Day is an emotional day, but I thought they handled it really well and really stepped up,” Fried said.

Fried praised the team’s transition defense, an aspect of play he described as a trademark for the Hoyas.

“We’re really looking to pressure the ball and force some turnovers to give us some easy opportunities,” Fried said.

While Georgetown edged out Marquette on the stat sheet, the scoreboard reflected a very close match. Georgetown tallied the first goal of the game, but Marquette prevented the  team from going on a run. After five lead changes, the teams entered halftime with a score of 8-7 favoring the Hoyas. The largest lead belonged to Georgetown with less than a minute into the second half after Whitehurst scored two quick goals to put the Hoyas up by three. 

The intensity of the competition continued throughout the full 60 minutes. Gebhardt scored her third of the game with just under 11 minutes remaining in regulation to tie the score at 12. With just under five minutes in regulation, Rubin put one away off a free position opportunity to regain the lead.

The Hoyas were able to maintain a prolonged possession and run the clock out at the end of the game to ensure their one-point win.

Georgetown outshot Marquette, generating many opportunities from its quick ball movement on offense. Georgetown gathered 15 ground balls to Marquette’s 13. The Hoyas secured 15 draw controls to the Golden Eagles’ 11. The Blue and Gray also cleared more successfully and committed fewer fouls than the Golden Eagles over the course of the game. Georgetown did an impressive job in transition defense, riding Marquette and forcing them to earn every possession.

Etchison acknowledged the Hoyas’ crucial possession in the final moments of the game.

“We really tried to keep running and run the clock down as much as possible, so I think it’s really just staying calm, knowing you can run around anyone and just keeping your feet moving. I think staying calm is the big thing, we always try to focus on that,” Etchison said.

Part of her confidence in critical situations comes from her four years of experience playing for the Hoyas. For their last regular season game against Temple on Saturday, Etchison would like to see the Hoyas put forth a more consistent offense.

“I think our defense played a great game, they made some big stops allowing possessions,” Etchison said. “I think on offense we really just need to execute, we have got to finish shots, we have got to get up a couple more goals.”

Georgetown is set to travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to take on conference opponent Temple on Saturday in what will be their last regular season game. Opening draw is scheduled for 1 p.m.