In its first conference game of the season, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team suffered its second straight one-goal loss, falling 11-10 to the Marquette Golden Eagles on Saturday.
Georgetown (2-7, 0-1 Big East) has now lost three straight games, two of them 11-10. Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Warne turned to the team’s slow start as the reason for losing these close games.
“We need to change our warmup up, we have to do something to get the guys kick-started because once we get into the groove of the game, we’re fine, but, it just seems like we put ourselves behind the eight ball,” Warne said.
Georgetown and Marquette (4-2, 1-0 Big East) are now tied 3-3 in their competitive all-time series. In addition to the Jesuit identity, the Big East status and similar levels of play demonstrated by each team, the rivalry is heightened by the fact that Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Warne and Marquette Head Coach Joe Amplo are longtime friends, teammates and competitors who played at rival high schools and then together at Hofstra.
The Blue and Gray got off to a slow start, giving the Golden Eagles a 5-0 lead in the first quarter. Despite the deficit, the team started the second quarter hot with a goal by senior midfielder Devon Lewis assisted by redshirt junior attack Peter Conley. Sophomore attack Austin McDonald intercepted a Golden Eagles’ pass, leading to the Hoyas’ second goal by freshman attack Jake Carraway.
Marquette answered with its sixth goal to put the Golden Eagles up by four. Conley converted on a pass from junior attack Matt Behrens during a man-up opportunity to tighten the gap, but Marquette fired back to reclaim its four-goal lead before halftime.
Georgetown dominated the third quarter with three goals to Marquette’s one and four face-off wins to Marquette’s one. Senior defenseman Michael Mayer played a pivotal role to the Hoyas’ possession success, pulling in seven ground balls during the game. Mayer sets the pace for the Hoyas’ defense with a team-high 39 ground balls on the season.
Carraway and sophomore attack Dan Bucaro each tallied one goal before senior attack and Tewaaraton Watch List player Ryan McNamara scored his only goal of the game for the Golden Eagles. The final goal of the third quarter was the result of a look by Carraway to McDonald, who quickly finessed a shot into the back of the net.
In the fourth quarter, 26 shots were fired during the final 15 minutes of play. Lewis, Bucaro, Conley and sophomore midfielder Patrick Aslanian netted one goal each, but the Hoyas failed to tie the game despite a last-second opportunity. While Warne was impressed by his team’s ability to generate opportunities, he stressed the importance of being more selective with shots.
“We have to find a way to be better scorers, not just shooters. We tend to allow goalies double-digit saves every game. So that means we’re getting shots which is great, but scoring is even better. So, we have to figure out a way to not let goalies have really good games against us,” Warne said.
Georgetown outshot Marquette by 13 in Saturday’s game, but Marquette’s junior goalie Cole Blazer had a solid showing with 14 saves. Georgetown’s junior goalie Nick Marrocco rivaled Blazer with another impressive performance for the Hoyas. The match gave Marrocco his seventh double-digit save game of the season, adding 10 saves to his career total of 475. In addition, Marrocco played strong defense and raked in four ground balls. However, Warne noted that the rest of the Hoyas’ defense needs to improve.
“We have to make Nick’s job easier at times. We just have to execute our game plan a little bit better,” Warne said.
Georgetown prepares to take on its next conference opponent, No. 7 Denver (6-2), this Saturday at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver, Colo. Opening faceoff is set for 3 p.m. The game will be aired on Altitude Sports and Entertainment.
