Georgetown Takes Top ECAC Spot from UMass

Ruthie Braunstein/The Hoya The men’s lacrosse team can clinch an NCAA tournament bid if they beat Rutgers this Saturday.

With 12 seconds to go in the Georgetown men’s lacrosse game against the University of Massachusetts, Steve Dusseau scored an unusual goal. The ball seemed to float past the goalie’s shoulder and barely touched the back of the net. Described as a “kunckleball of a shot” by Head Coach Dave Urick, it was arguably the most important goal for the Hoyas thus far this season.

With Dusseau’s goal, Georgetown beat No. 4 UMass 13-12, ending their undefeated season and tying Georgetown with the inutemen for first place in the Eastern Coast Athletic Conference. The winner of the conference will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“It wasn’t for the faint of heart. It was every bit what we thought it was going to be, and then a little bit more than that,” Head Coach Dave Urick said. “We went into the game knowing it was going to be a real challenge, and it was, and our guys responded in a fashion that makes you proud.”

The two teams, who now have identical records (10-1 overall, 4-1 ECAC) have played each other twice in two years, with each time the score being decided by one goal. Saturday’s match-up was a testament to how closely matched the two teams are in skill and competitiveness.

“It’s a pretty intense rivalry that’s been established in two short years with them. Both years now it’s been one goal, and there’s not a whole lot of love between the two teams, let’s put it that way,” Urick said.

The Minutemen jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but Dusseau got the Hoyas on the board at the 8:24 mark. After UMass scored again, Georgetown got goals from junior attack Doug Staab and senior midfielder Scott Doyle tie the score at 3 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw more close play, with the teams trading two goals apiece.

Doyle and sophomore midfielder Mike Hammer answered the inutemen goals with two of their own, making the halftime score 5-5.

“We came out of it with a tie at halftime, and then we played our best quarter in a while in the third quarter. We got some good momentum going, and [senior midfielder] Sean Cartin did a great job facing off for us,” Urick said.

The Hoyas outscored the Minutemen 5-1 in the third. Senior attack Mike Henehan scored twice and had one assist, Doyle had two goals and senior attack Jamie Sharpe also scored, assisted by sophomore midfielder Trevor Walker.

Georgetown continued their run in the beginning fourth quarter with two goals during the first three minutes, one each from Dusseau and Henehan to give the Hoyas their biggest lead of the game, 12-6.