It was a season for the record books. Almost.

For the third year in a row, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team took its season down to the wire, advancing through postseason play only to lose in the quarterfinals.

The Syracuse Orange ended the Hoyas’ season last May, scoring in the last five seconds to top Georgetown 8-7. The Orange went on to win the NCAA title while the Hoyas returned home early to the Hilltop, falling short once more.

The end result of last year’s season belies what was in fact a very successful season for Georgetown lacrosse.

Although bookended by disappointing losses – the Hoyas also lost their season opener to then-ranked No. 5 Maryland last year by a score of 14-5 – Georgetown (11-4, 3-0 ECAC) finished with only four losses, a perfect conference record, numerous accolades and an eighth consecutive appearance at the NCAA tournament. A 7-6 victory over Rutgers in early May won the team its second consecutive ECAC crown.

Throughout the season, the Hoyas made an impressive showing on the road, going 4-0 in their away games and only losing one game on a neutral field in the playoffs.

The loss to Syracuse in early May foreshadowed the tournament loss for the Hoyas. In their first meeting of the season the Hoyas posted nine goals but were still four short of the Orange, losing 13-9.

In their second meeting in the quarterfinals, Georgetown closed the gap, but still could not manage a win against the strong Syracuse team, which went on to win the national title. Senior goalie Rich D’Andrea had a career-high 18 saves in the game.

The only other loss of the season came at the hands of Navy – who eventually appeared in the NCAA Championship game versus Syracuse – by a 7-5 score.

Though the Georgetown team totaled a small number of losses last season, seven of their 15 games were decided by two goals or less.

Led by four senior captains – defenseman Andrew Braziel (COL ’04), attack Neal Goldman (COL ’04), midfielder Walid Hajj (COL ’04) and goalie Andrew Owen (COL ’04) – the 2004 Hoyas racked up postseason awards. Georgetown claimed six spots on the All-ECAC First Team: Braziel, junior midfielder Andy Corno, sophomore defenseman Reyn Garnett, Goldman, Hajj and junior long-stick midfielder Brodie Miller. Georgetown also boasted the Conference Rookie of the Year in attack Trevor Casey.

Four of the Hoyas were also honored with USILA All American titles. Hajj and Merrill both appeared on the first team, while Corno was placed on the second team and Braziel was on the third team. Hajj also received the 2004 ECAC Lacrosse League Offensive Player of the Year award.

Hajj was the number eight pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft last summer, selected to play for the New Jersey Pride. Hajj is the fifth former Hoya to play for the New Jersey team.

Goldman also left a legacy at Georgetown, joining the other Hoya lacrosse elite in the record books. The attackman ranks 13th in career goals and sixth for career assists in the Georgetown books. His 2004 total of 20 assists put him at 13th on single season assists leaders.

Although losing a few key seniors, Georgetown will still have the effective presence of many players from this powerful 2004 team this year. Though they can recall their strong conference run last year, Georgetown’s almost-there appearance at the Final Four last year will be kept at the forefront of the 2005 team as they attempt to push their way to a national championship.

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