One more win and all of Georgetown’s struggles would have been erased. Sure, their six losses this season may have weakened their portfolio entering the NCAA tournament, but with a win Sunday, the Hoyas would have been in. They would have secured a spot in the 16-team field and afforded a chance to make up for all of the opportunities they missed earlier in the year.

The last thing in the world, then, that Georgetown wanted to see on the opposite end of the field on Sunday, its chance for a cathartic victory just 60 minutes away, was Syracuse sophomore goalie Amber Pardee-Hill play the game of her life.

The second-year keeper made 13 saves, including nine in the first half, and held the Hoyas to just seven goals as the Orange came away with a 12-7 victory and a guaranteed spot in the NCAA field while Georgetown will have to hope for an at-large bid.

Pardee-Hill, who held Georgetown’s (and maybe the nation’s) best attacker, Coco Stanwick, to just two goals, came into the contest certainly the less-heralded of the two goaltenders. The Hoyas’ Maggie Koch won national goalie of the year honors last season and Big East defender of the year honors this spring; Pardee-Hill was not even a 2007 all-Big East selection.

Koch was adequate, to be sure, allowing 12 goals on 19 shots, but could not match the feat accomplished on the other end of the field. She was not helped by her teams 18 turnovers (to Syracuse’s 10) or eight groundballs (to the Orange’s 13).

Syracuse opened scoring with 2:26 into the game and held the lead from wire-to-wire. Despite losing 17 of 21 draw controls, the Orange held the Hoyas to 22 shots, a significant accomplishment considering Georgetown averages upwards of 30 shots per game.

After cutting the Syracuse lead to 4-3 on a Stanwick score with 15:15 left in the first half, the Hoyas defense became porous, allowing five unanswered goals before the break.

“We looked a bit tentative early and their last two goals before halftime hurt,” Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried said in a press release. “If we can go into the break down just 6-3 and not playing particularly well, I think that’s a boost in itself. Syracuse is playing with a lot of confidence.”

Second half scoring was even, but the Orange’s offense had already done enough to doom the Hoyas. Most agonizing for Koch about Syracuse’s offensive efficiency was that Georgetown saw most of it coming from the start.

“We worked on that all week – top-side cuts,” Koch said. “That’s the one thing we didn’t want to give up. And I think they got three or four of them. We knew it was coming.”

Courtesy Rachel Fus/The Daily Orange

As the Big East tournament champion, No. 7 Syracuse secures an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The No. 10 Hoyas face No. 14 Princeton on Sunday and will learn their postseason fate the next day when the field is announced.

To get to Sunday’s game, Georgetown defeated No. 12 Notre Dame 12-10 in a thrilling semifinal game on Friday.

“We knew Notre Dame was going to give us a good game and they did just that, making us really sweat it out near the end,” Fried said. “After losing to them the last two times, we needed to prove to ourselves that we could win. I think we proved to ourselves that we can be a national contender.”

Stanwick netted six goals and an assist in the win, marking a season-high output. Koch matched a career-high 14 saves against the Fighting Irish, who had beaten the Hoyas in two-straight games dating back to last May’s NCAA quarterfinals.

Georgetown jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first half and a 12-8 advantage in the second stanza, but on both occasions, the Irish pulled back with two scores. Notre Dame junior attacker Caitlin cKinney tallied an unassisted score with 1:25 left in the game to bring the score to 12-10, but the Irish were unable to pull any closer.

– HOYA Staff Writer Allison Ferreira contributed to this report.