Chasing the No. 5 Cavaliers left a sluggish No. 9 Hoya squad out of steam and empty-handed.

Virginia (11-2) pulled away from a stalling Georgetown (7-5) offense in a 14-7 victory on Wednesday, and the seven-point loss marked the Hoyas’ worst defeat this season.

“Virginia came out and played very hard from the opening whistle,” Head Coach Ricky Fried said. “We seemed to be a little bit on our heels, a little bit reactive.”

Early goals by freshman midfielder Brittany Kalkstein and senior attacker Kate Breslin gave Virginia a 2-0 edge to start the game, and the Cavaliers would never allow the Hoyas within two for the rest of the game.

Virginia’s sterling execution showed through in its ability to score on four of its first eight shots in the first half and control 10 of the first half’s 13 draw controls.

“They were very patient on offense. They controlled possession through a couple means: One, they were able to get draw controls, and two, we forced some poor shots early and had some quick turnovers,” Fried said. “With those two things, plus their patience and their ability to control the ball on the offensive end, they were able to control the tempo.”

Senior attacker Brittany Baschuk opened the Hoyas’ scoring with 22:56 remaining in the first half on an assist by fellow senior attacker Coco Stanwick, but the usually potent Georgetown offense was only able to tally three goals to Virginia’s nine before the end of the first half.

“Really we just had too many easy turnovers and too many missed opportunities. We kind of stood around and watched a little bit and watched when they got up on the lead, when we needed to play together more,” Fried said. “It was a matter of execution. We were getting shots that we wanted, but rushed them. Once we were down, we’d get excited to have an opportunity and tried to put too much pressure on each shot.”

This strategy proved to be a dangerous one for the Hoyas, because the shots came few and far between: Georgetown – which averages 30 plus shots per game – only posted 21 shots on the afternoon.

“Virginia had the possession for most of the game, so that limited our opportunities,” Stanwick said.

The Cavaliers were running with the lead for the whole game, and although the Hoyas chased, they could not catch the faster Cavaliers.

“Defensively, after watching things, it looked like we knew what we were supposed to do, but we were late to react for some reason,” Fried said. “Once we fell back and we had to press out a little more, they were able to handle the pressure and move the ball and we didn’t anticipate as well.”

Senior attacker Schuyler Sutton broke a 10-minute scoring drought for Georgetown with 4:25 left on the clock, but a seven-point deficit was just too much to overcome.

“I’m always pretty hopeful until the last 10 seconds,” Stanwick said. “We believed we could do it the whole time – it just ended up not going our way.”

Despite the disheartening loss, the fifth of the season, the Hoyas are holding their heads up and looking forward to a big game against Big East rival Notre Dame.

“Morale is high,” Stanwick said. “Morale is great.”

If the Hoyas (3-0 Big East) can defeat Notre Dame (2-1 Big East), they will clinch the regular season Big East championship and earn a top seed in the Big East tournament.

“We have to come out hard. We have to come out with emotion like our backs are against the wall, because they are for some degree,” Fried said.

The opening draw is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.