Charles Nailen/The Hoya Junior attack Mike Hammer and the Hoyas face their rival No. 2 Syracuse next.

Coming off what was probably its biggest win of the season Wednesday against No. 11 Loyola and a week a way from meeting rival No. 2 Syracuse, it would have been easy for the No. 3 Georgetown men’s lacrosse team to overlook Sunday’s matchup against ECAC Conference cellar-dweller Rutgers.

The Hoyas, however, showed that they are not looking past any games this year as they trounced the Scarlet Knights 13-2 at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, N.J. Georgetown jumped all over struggling Rutgers in the first quarter and never gave the Knights any chance to even think about pulling off a huge upset. With the win, Georgetown improved to 11-1 on the season and closed out the ECAC Conference schedule at 4-1. Rutgers fell to 2-11 overall and 0-4 in the ECAC.

“For us, this game was as important as any game on our schedule,” Georgetown Head Coach Dave Urick said. “It was just a good effort from everyone.”

After being held scoreless for the first part of the opening quarter, Georgetown began to take the game over when junior midfielder Trevor Walker scored with 8:20 remaining. Less than a minute later, sophomore attack Neal Goldman scored unassisted to give Georgetown a 2-0 lead after one quarter.

The second quarter saw more of the same as the Hoya offense continued to find the net while the Scarlet Knights could muster little if any offensive push. Senior midfielder Mike Kanach got Georgetown going in the second quarter with his third goal of the season less than two minutes into the period. Senior attack Steve Dusseau scored his first goal of the day a minute and a half later. Sophomore midfielder Walid Hajj rounded out the Georgetown offense in the closing seconds to put the Hoyas up 5-0 at halftime. It was the second time this season that Georgetown had shut out an opponent for an entire half. The first was during its 8-5 victory over No. 10 Cornell on March 2.

“We ran 13 midfielders in the first half,” Urick said. “We were really able to take advantage of our depth.”

The struggling Rutgers offense had little chance against the stronger Georgetown defense. It was the third consecutive game it scored four goals or less. The two goals was its lowest offensive output of the season.

Georgetown’s offense broke things open in the opening minutes of the second half. Junior midfielder Doug Mueller scored twice and senior midfielder Phil Vincenti and Dusseau each added goals to increase the Georgetown lead to 9-0 just five and a half minutes into the third quarter. Dusseau’s two goals on the day give him 44 on the season, just three goals short of assistant coach Scott Urick’s (COL ’00) single-season scoring record of 47.

After senior attack Doug Staab scored to make the score 10-0, Rutgers was finally able to find the net to avoid the embarrassing shutout when junior attack Ken Springer scored with only eight seconds remaining in the third quarter.

In the final quarter, sophomore attack Mike Boynton scored his third goal of the season while a pair of freshmen, midfielder Nick iaritis and attack Matt Wilson scored the first goals of their Georgetown careers. Sophomore attack Timothy White scored the Scarlet Knights’ second goal in the final minute for the 13-2 final.

Georgetown dominated in all categories. It out-shot Rutgers 57-28. Senior goalie Scott Schroeder made 13 saves for the Hoyas.

“I thought Scott was seeing the ball very well,” Urick said.

Scarlet Knight sophomore goalie Chris Kenyon provided the lone bright spot on the day for them as he stopped a career-high 21 shots and kept the score from being even more lopsided than it was. The Hoyas won 14 of 19 face-offs and picked up 40 of 69 ground balls.

Despite the win, Urick said he is not yet sure that the Hoyas have secured an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“I feel a little more comfortable, but you never feel 100 percent until you hear your name called on [selection] Sunday,” he said.

With the Scarlet Knights behind them, the Hoyas can now turn their full attention to Saturday’s battle with the Orangemen at the Carrier Dome. The two archrival-basketball schools have met every year in lacrosse since 1995 and have developed a rivalry of their own on the lacrosse field. The Orangemen have gotten the better of the rivalry, winning seven of nine meetings. They knocked the Hoyas out of the NCAA Final Four in 1999 and the NCAA quarterfinals a year later. The Hoyas also have never won in any of their previous three trips to the Carrier Dome including a 24-16 loss to the eventual national champion Orangemen in 2000.

Any time you play Syracuse in the [Carrier] Dome, it’s a challenge,” Urick said. “But I think our guys like challenges.”

The Hoyas will also be seeking some measure of revenge from last year’s lopsided 19-9 loss to the Orangemen at Harbin Field. The loss ended Georgetown’s 19-game home winning streak. Despite 20 saves from Schroeder, the Georgetown defense could not hold off the potent Syracuse attack as current junior midfielder ike Springer and current senior Spencer Wright each scored four goals. The Orangemen out-shot the Hoyas, picked up more ground balls and won 24 of 32 face-offs to cruise to the victory.

“We certainly didn’t fare well at all,” Urick said. “I’m not sure if that will affect this year’s game a lot, but our guys will have some painful memories.”

This year’s game features two of the game’s most dangerous offensive players. Dusseau and Syracuse sophomore Mike Powell sit third and second respectively in points per game in the most recent NCAA statistics.

Face-off is set for 2 p.m. at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.

News and Notes

Georgetown Director of Athletics Joseph Lang announced Monday that Steve Dusseau has been selected as the 2001-02 recipient of the Robert A. Duffey Scholar-Athlete Award. The award is given annually to the senior athlete who best embodies athletic and academic excellence. In addition to being a first team All-American in 2001, Dusseau has been on the Dean’s List in all four of his years at Georgetown.