Georgetown (1-0) could not have hoped for a better start to its season. Ranked eighth in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Association (IWLCA) preseason poll, and seventh in Lacrosse Magazine’s preseason picks, the Hoyas routed the George Washington Colonials (0-2), 17-2.

“We felt really good about the total team effort,” Coach Ricky Fried said. “Everyone got the opportunity to play.”

Georgetown took control from the start, with freshman midfielder Danielle Van Fossan winning the opening faceoff. Eleven seconds into the match, the Hoyas had their first shot, and 30 seconds later, their first goal. They continued to dominate, not allowing a Colonial shot until 10 minutes into the match.

George Washington tallied its first goal with 19:33 to go in the first half to cut Georgetown’s lead to 3-1. The Colonials’ goal, however, did little to slow the Hoyas’ momentum. After three minutes of turnovers, ground ball pickups and fouls, Georgetown netted another goal to go up 4-1. The Hoyas scored six more goals to go into halftime with a resounding 10-1 lead.

Junior attack Molly Ford and sophomore attack Jacqueline Giles led the Hoya offense in the first half, both scoring three goals.

When asked about the Hoya start, Coach Fried said, “The biggest thing is trying to maintain pace across the board – focus on playing your style of play regardless of the score or the opponent.”

The Hoyas took that to heart, refusing to let up in the second half, despite their commanding lead. Within a minute, they had scored twice, increasing the lead to 12-1. Turnovers plagued the Colonials throughout the match, especially unsuccessful clearing attempts, which often resulted in a quick Georgetown counterattack. The Hoyas’ 14th and 15th goals resulted from the Colonials’ failure to clear the ball out of their defensive zone.

After a scoreless three minutes, GW captured its second goal, making the score 15-2. Georgetown’s 17th, and final, goal came with 6:18 left to play. Junior defense Mallory Twist recovered the ball for Georgetown after a George Washington turnover. It took only two seconds before Twist got the ball to junior midfielder Ashby Kaestner who delivered it to Ford for a shot past Colonial sophomore goalkeeper Liz Hoffman.

Ford led the Hoya offense with five goals, but eight Georgetown players scored in the match. The Hoyas astoundingly outshot the Colonials 43-7. Georgetown was also tough defensively, with 10 Hoyas causing turnovers. As further evidence of their relentless play, 15 Hoyas picked up ground balls, compared to eight players doing so for the Colonials. Georgetown’s clearing was spotless – all eight of the Hoyas’ clearing attempts were successful.

“Every day we work on draw controls, rides and clears.all three of these things have aspects of possession, and if we can out-possession our opponent, we will have a better opportunity to win matches,” Fried said.

Despite the lopsided win, Fried saw room for improvement, “Our shooting percentage is something we need to improve upon. Also, we need to put more pressure on the ball defensively.”

Junior goalkeeper Caitlin Formby was credited the win for the Hoyas. However, sophomore Lauren Thomas took over in goal with 22 minutes to go. Both keepers made two saves and allowed one goal.

A team’s first match says a lot about its ability to coalesce – how new players have gelled with veterans and how those veterans will fill their leadership roles. For Coach Fried, the match was a display of what he had been witnessing in preseason.

“Our seniors have done a tremendous job throughout the fall and preseason of setting the tone for expectations and how they want to treat each other,” Fried said.

Addressing the rookies’ connecting with older players and the contributions they will make, Fried said, “the game ball went to a freshman, Danielle.”

Van Fossan started in her first match with the Hoyas and handled all faceoffs, with the Hoyas winning 16 of 21.

Georgetown will be in Baltimore, Md. Wednesday, taking on No. 15 Johns Hopkins at 4 p.m. When asked if the Hoya strategy would change against a ranked Hopkins team, Fried said the goal is to focus on improving play, not on his team’s opponent.

“We need to be engaged from the beginning,” he said, while admitting that Hopkins was fast and emotional. “We cannot get caught up in emotion . we need to control the tempo.”

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