FIELD HOCKEY Georgetown Sluggish In Weekend Victory Against Ursinus By Julie Wood Hoya Staff Writer

Tim Llewellyn/The Hoya Senior defender Bridget McConnell and the Hoyas shut out the Bears Sunday.

Although the Georgetown field hockey team won 2-0 over Ursinus College on Sunday, bringing its record to 9-3, the team’s lackluster effort, not the victory, was what stood out for the Hoyas.

With two games remaining in their schedule, including a tough matchup Wednesday against the No. 8 Virginia Cavaliers, the Hoyas will have to improve their play if they hope to earn a postseason tournament bid.

“I think we played uninspired,” Head Coach Laurie Carroll said. “We weren’t willing to do the little things that make our team successful.”

Less than five minutes into the game, junior forward Michaela Brown, assisted by sophomore forward Leeanne Rizzo, scored for the Hoyas on the rebound of a penalty corner shot.

The rest of the half saw fairly even play from the Hoyas and Bears. Each team had four penalty corner opportunities. Even though the Hoya defense allowed the Bears to make passes and capture loose balls, impressive saves by Hoya junior goalkeeper Jessica Herring prevented Ursinus from scoring. The Hoyas went into halftime up 1-0.

“We just talked about the fundamentals of our game plan, stepping up to the ball, and doing all the things we’ve been doing all season, and we came out, and I still felt like we played pretty uninspired,” Carroll said. “I really felt we were going to change it, but we didn’t.”

At the beginning of the second half, the Hoyas did manage to get several scoring opportunities as a result of strong offensive play by sophomore midfielder Shelby Samperton. On the first penalty corner of the half, sophomore midfielder Elena Elster scored her tenth goal of the season, assisted by senior midfielder Aubrey Bruggemana and Rizzo, to put the Hoyas up 2-0.

The Bears fought back, getting eight penalty corners in the remainder of the game. The Hoyas’ defensive corner unit, led by Bruggeman and Rizzo, was able to break up most of the Bears’ corners before they got to Herring, but the team had trouble clearing the ball out of the circle, giving Ursinus plenty of second chances.

Bears junior goalkeeper Nicole Monatesti prevented the Hoyas from capitalizing on the rest of their six penalty corners in the half.

The loss is the fourth straight for the Bears, who are 4-13 on the season.

Herring had six saves in her fourth shutout of the season. “I thought Jess Herring played outstanding. I feel like I can always count on her, no matter how the game is going,” Carroll said.

The team’s Wednesday game against Virginia takes on added importance because it will determine whether Hoyas will be invited to a postseason tournament. The Hoyas, one of two Independent Conference teams in the country, could still play in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament. The Hoyas are hoping to repeat last season’s success, where they made their first-ever postseason appearance with a 13-5 record, the most wins per season in the program’s history. The Cavaliers, with a 10-5 overall record, just came off a 3-0 loss to No. 3 Wake Forest.

“If my team plays well, we can certainly compete with [Virginia]; we can certainly beat them. When we’re good, we’re very, very good. We can compete with anyone in the country,” Carroll said.

The Hoyas will face the Cavaliers at 4 p.m. Wednesday on Kehoe Field.

Team Schedules/Rosters 2001 Feild Hockey Schedule