The Georgetown men’s lacrosse team improved its conference record with a 13-11 victory at No. 13 Villanova on Saturday. With this win, Georgetown moves to 8-4 overall and ranks No. 17 in the nation after not being ranked prior to Saturday. Its 2-2 record in the Big East puts Georgetown above Villanova in the conference standings.

Following narrow losses to ranked opponents in matchups against No. 3 Denver and No. 9 Loyola Maryland, and in four of its last five games, Georgetown (8-4, 2-2 Big East) bounced back to remain competitive in the standings as the season nears its end.

The game’s start was eventful, with seven goals and six penalties in the first quarter alone. The Wildcats (8-4, 1-2 Big East) started off the scoring and took an early 3-1 lead, but the Hoyas pushed back with three consecutive goals to end the first quarter with a 4-3 lead. A large part of Georgetown’s offensive success came from senior faceoff specialist Peter Tagliaferri, who won all eight of his faceoffs in the first quarter.

A Wildcat penalty allowed the Hoyas to start the second quarter with a man advantage, which junior attack Robert Clark capitalized on with less    than 30 seconds into the frame when he scooped up a rebound and scored. The Wildcats clawed back into the game and netted two straight scores to tie the game at five apiece, but the Hoyas answered with two goals of their own and entered halftime with a 7-5 lead.

Georgetown rode this momentum into the second half, as sophomore attack Jake Carraway scored four consecutive goals during a three-minute span in the third quarter and gave his team an 11-5 lead. The Hoyas’ offense slowed down after Carraway’s offensive outburst, however, and the Wildcats scored two goals late in the quarter to cut the Hoyas’ lead to 11-7.

While Georgetown dominated the third quarter, Villanova put up a similar performance in the fourth. Though another goal from Clark gave the Hoyas a five-goal lead early in the quarter, the Wildcats came roaring back with four goals of their own in under three minutes, cutting the Hoyas’ lead to just one with over eight minutes to play.

Georgetown won the following faceoff, however, and the ensuing possession resulted in a goal by junior attack Daniel Bucaro that gave the Hoyas a two-goal lead. In the final seven minutes following the goal, both defenses held their opponent scoreless; the final result was a 13-11 Georgetown victory.

Georgetown’s   leading goal scorers on the season, Bucaro and Carraway, tallied six and five points, respectively, and netted nine of the team’s 13 goals. Junior midfielder Lucas Wittenberg also contributed two goals and two assists, and Tagliaferri won 15 of 25 draws overall.

Senior goalkeeper Nick Marrocco had 15 saves in the cage — his highest total this season. With this performance, Marrocco has accumulated over 600 saves in his career, becoming the first Big East player in five years and just the fourth Hoya in program history to reach this mark. This performance, along with a six-save game against Loyola Maryland, earned Marrocco his second straight Big East Defensive Player of the Week award.

The victory moves Georgetown to third in the Big East conference, ensuring them a spot in the Big East tournament barring a loss to last-place St. John’s in its final conference game. Georgetown will play its final home contest against New Jersey Institute of Technology this Saturday at 3 p.m.