The wind was relentless as the No. 5 women’s lacrosse team opened its season Wednesday afternoon. So was the Hoya offense, thrashing Mount St. Mary’s 18-3 in its season opener on Kehoe Field.

“We’re pleased with the first effort. We talked about just taking it one game at a time, focusing on the opponent, focusing on ourselves,” first-year head coach Ricky Fried said. “We’re happy with the way we responded to the inclement weather and didn’t let it affect our play for the most part.”

Three Georgetown players finished with a hat-trick as senior midfielder Alison Chambers, senior attack Catherine Elbe and sophomore attack Coco Stanwick accounted for half of the Hoyas’ total scoring. Stanwick also contributed three assists on the afternoon.

Georgetown tallied five goals in short order to open the season. Chambers found the back of the net twice in the opening minutes. Senior midfielder Lauryn Bernier tallied two, and senior attack Hollis Pica added one to give Georgetown a five-goal advantage before Mount St. Mary’s could strike back.

With only 7:33 left in the first half, Mount junior midfielder Lauren Reymann slipped a shot past Georgetown senior goaltender Sarah Robinson. The goal came on Mount’s only second-long offensive possession. The Hoyas responded, stringing together four goals over the last four minutes of the half to take a 9-1 edge into the break.

As the second half began and the temperature continued to drop, Georgetown fans clamored for two more Hoya goals since a 10-goal lead institutes a running clock, ending the game sooner.

“To be honest, I try not to think about it. It’s cold, but everyone else is cold, too,” Stanwick said after the game. She tallied the first goal of the second half for Georgetown less than 30 seconds into the game.

Senior midfielder Lauren Redler followed up less than a minute later, bringing the count to 11-1. Georgetown scored four more goals over the next 10 minutes, taking a 15-1 lead before Mount junior attack Kirby Day gave her team its second goal with just 11:35 left to play.

Five minutes later the Hoyas found another scoring opportunity when Mount goaltender Naomi Campano stepped out of the net to make a pass. Georgetown intercepted the ball and sophomore attack Brittany Baschuk found the back of the empty net on a backdoor cut, scoring her second goal.

After another goal from Elbe less than two minutes later, Mount senior midfielder Erin LaMotte put up a third goal with 2:18 remaining. Georgetown sophomore midfielder Sara Zorzi tallied the last goal for the Hoyas with just five ticks left on the clock, bringing Georgetown’s total goal count to 18.

The Hoya offense proved more than able to do its job. Georgetown took 37 shots in the game – 22 in the first half alone – compared to Mount St. Mary’s nine. Georgetown registered nine assists while all three Mount St. Mary’s goals were unassisted. Georgetown held a 35-8 advantage in groundballs, and a 15-2 edge in draw controls. The Hoya defense, however, went largely untested.

“They didn’t have the ball down there a ton, but a lot of that has to do with our ride, which incorporates the defense. We’re coming up with a lot of groundballs and turnovers in the backfield,” Reid said. “When the ball was down there, we did what we needed to do. The starting defense played well for the limited testing they had.”

In the net for Mount, Campano racked up 17 saves and allowed 18 goals. The Hoyas split goaltending duties three ways. In nearly 40 minutes between the pipes, Robinson made only two saves but allowed just one goal. Sophomore keepers Maggie Koch and Margaret Farland split the remaining 20 minutes, each allowing one goal apiece.

“We’re fortunate enough to play three goalies – to get them all some game experience,” Reid said. “We gave up a couple of goals, but they have some kids that can handle the ball.”

The win marks Fried’s first as head coach of the Hoyas and the first time Georgetown and Mount St. Mary’s have met since 1988. Georgetown took a 5-0 lead in the series and now looks ahead to Stanford.

The Cardinals opened their season in mid-February with wins over Oregon, UC-Davis and Saint Mary’s at Miramonte High School. Georgetown beat Stanford 12-3 to close out its regular season last year and 15-7 in the teams’ 2003 meeting.

“We’re looking for a lot of what we saw last year, but they’re more mature now. They had a lot of kids who were freshmen but now have a year under their belts of playing and a little more experience. They have a very athletic team. They like to push the ball,” Fried said, adding, “They’re at home, they have something to prove – beating an east-coast team.”

Georgetown meets Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., on Sunday. The Hoyas will spend part of spring break practicing in the warmer West Coast weather before returning home to open their Big East season against Syracuse on Saturday, Mar. 12.

“We have to go out and look at it as taking care of business first,” Fried said, “and then enjoy the rest of the week while we’re out there.”