WOMEN’S LAX Can’t Beat ‘Em GU Unbeaten After Win at SU By Derek Richmond Special to The Hoya

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Junior defender Melissa Biles, shown here competing for the National Championship last season, has led the Hoyas to an impressive start this year.

On Friday the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team extended its record to a perfect 5-0 (2-0 Big East) with a victory over No.7 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. The Hoyas scored early and never relinquished the lead, as they defeated the Orangewomen 11-6.

The Hoyas displayed their diverse offensive attack as seven players contributed goals, including a hat trick from sophomore midfielder Gloria Lozano. Lozano tallied the first of her three goals less than a minute into the contest. She was followed shortly by freshman midfielder Lauryn Bernier and junior attack Wick Stanwick. Syracuse rallied to within one, but that was the closest they would get.

“We just had a really nice team effort on both ends of the field . It was really well balanced, especially across our attack. That’s something we’ve really been emphasizing,” Head Coach Kim Simons said. “That was really very impressive for us, and I think that’s what’s going to make us tough to stop, if we can continue to be balanced like that.”

The Big East took notice of Georgetown’s well-balanced game also, as it named Stanwick last week’s Big East offensive player of the week and sophomore midfielder Michi Ellers co-defensive player of the week. The Orangewomen were another witness of – and victim to – the Hoya’s ever-improving game.

“Even more [important] than the win is how we played. I thought it was probably our best performance of the year thus far,” Simons said.

Georgetown went into the half leading 5-3 and came out shooting in the second period. They outscored the Orangewomen 6-3 in the second half on goals by senior midfielder Kate Ahearn, who tallied two, senior attack Erin Elbe with one, sophomore midfielder Anouk Peters and freshman midfielder Allison Chambers, who had one apiece. Leigh-Ann Zimmer led Syracuse, netting three goals in the effort.

The Hoyas also outshot Syracuse 27-15 and more than doubled the number of groundballs the Orangewomen picked up. Both teams racked up seven saves in the cage, and Syracuse controlled one more draw than Georgetown but could not overcome the shooting deficit for the victory.

With the win, Georgetown secured its position atop the Big East. They have now moved into a position to make a strong run at the Big East title, which they were unanimously picked to win in the preseason coaches’ poll.

The Hoyas next play the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, N.C. on Sunday. Duke, now 5-1 following a weekend loss to North Carolina, is expected to fall from its perch atop the polls. This could allow the Hoyas to slip into the No. 1 spot even before they battle the Blue Devils. It would be the first time Georgetown attained such a position.

“I don’t put a whole lot of stock in polls, so I don’t even look at them half the time,” said Simons. “Duke is always a very good team. Sometimes when we play Duke we joke that it’s like we’re playing ourselves in a lot of ways. They’re well balanced; they’re a pretty experienced team; and despite the fact that they lost this weekend to [North] Carolina, they’re still very talented.”

Georgetown has not beaten Duke in four years but will look to change that this weekend. Simons noted that being the favored team does not make the game any easier to win, but maintaining the balance they showed against Syracuse will put them in a good position going into Sunday’s game.

Georgetown will face off against Duke at 11:30 a.m. in Durham, N.C.