It has been three long years since the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team (1-0), currently ranked 14th in the nation, made the NCAA tournament. After an offensive show in a 15-12 victory against Jacksonville at the Sunshine Classic in Everbank, Fla., the Hoyas have started the 2011 season off on the right foot. They’ll take the win, especially as they head into a rivalry game against No. 3 Maryland on Saturday.

“We’ve opened with Maryland for quite some time now, so Jacksonville was a chance to find out what’s good and what needs to be tweaked a little bit,” Head Coach Dave Urick said.

The Hoyas have played Maryland in their season-opener in six of the last seven years. As history would have it, the only time Georgetown didn’t play the Terps in the season-opener, the Blue and Gray came out on top. Jacksonville and Maryland are just two games out of the four-game road-trip that opens the season for Georgetown.

“I don’t think not playing at home is going to affect the way we play,” sophomore attack Travis Comeau said. “Our mindset is on winning and getting off to a good start. Maryland is obviously a big rivalry game. Four road games to start, I don’t think it’s going to hold us back.”

Georgetown held nothing back in their season-opener. Three Hoyas — Comeau, junior midfielder Zack Angel and sophomore attack Davey Emala — all recorded hat tricks against the Dolphins, while five other Hoyas scored.

“Everyone played a solid game, three guys getting hat tricks, just showed how much depth we have,” Comeau said. “As for Jacksonville, for them being a second-year team, actually impressive with how they’ve come together. I’m sure in coming years, we’ll see them again. We were just resilient, didn’t give them enough room to play their game.”

In his freshman year last season, Comeau tied for the team lead in goals with 25 and led the team with a 48.1 shot percentage.

“I give all the appreciation in the world to our defense,” Angel said. “Travis and myself, we would not have scored as many goals as we did if not for the defense.”

Last year, the Hoyas dropped their season-opener at home to the Terrapins, 15-13, despite going into halftime with a 10-7 lead.

A victory Saturday would be huge for the Hoyas, even this early in the season. Of Georgetown’s 12 remaining games, seven are against teams ranked in the top-20.

“[Maryland has] a new coach, so it will be interesting to see how much different their style of play will be,” Urick said. “It doesn’t seem like it will change much, and they have a lot of seniors, so it should be an interesting dynamic.”

This year the Hoyas only have five true home games, with a semi-neutral site game against No. 1 Syracuse in Baltimore on March 12.

“I think you’ve got to look at it and find the positive aspect of it,” Urick said. “We’re playing most of our home games when the weather is nice. I think [the road games] can be something that helps teams mature a little bit. Some of the intangibles can come together a little bit, so I’m just trying to look at the pluses.”

One of those pluses would be a marquee win over a top-three, archrival opponent this weekend.

“Obviously three years of not making the tournament — it’s questionable of whether or not we should have made it last year — our mindset is making the tournament,” Comeau said of the season. “No exceptions. We’ll just find a way to do it. We just have to know we are one of the top teams in the country, no matter what the rankings say, so it’s just a matter of having the right mindset.”

“I think we’re in pretty decent shape and it will be a heck of

a game,” Urick added.

Face-off will be at 3 p.m. in College Park, Md.