Charles Nailen/The Hoya Senior attack Wick Stanwick is stopped by a aryland defender. Stanwick had two goals in the Georgetown loss.

Coming into Wednesday’s game against Maryland, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team knew that, in order to beat the Terrapins, it would have to play a tough, fundamentally sound game. Very simply, the Hoyas did not do that.

“The game and the result was what happens when you only play one half,” Head Coach Kim Simons said. The result was a 13-10 loss at the hands of No. 1 Maryland – the Hoyas’ third loss in four games.

“We knew coming in that we had to play a full game to beat aryland, and we didn’t do that,” Simons said. “We didn’t even come close.”

That is not to say that there were not glimmers of hope, and even moments of opportunity for the Hoyas. Georgetown won the opening draw and controlled the ball for the majority of the first half.

Maryland did not touch the ball for the first three and a half minutes, and in the early going, the Hoyas showed better ball handling than they have of late. As a result, they found themselves up 1-0 on a tally by sophomore attack Sarah Oliphant just under five and a half minutes into the contest.

The Terps struck back quickly, however, and the score was knotted less than 30 seconds later. Not willing to let Maryland take control, the Georgetown offense fired off three goals in less than three minutes, taking what seemed to be a decisive lead. Senior attack Wick Stanwick started the onslaught, scoring her first of two of the day. Sophomore midfielder Lauryn Bernier chipped in the second, and senior mid Liz Ryan capitalized on a free-position shot to put the Hoyas up 4-1.

The remainder of the first half was marked by back-and-forth scoring, each team putting four shots in the net. While the Hoyas went into the half clinging to a tenuous 8-5 lead, the tide was already beginning to turn in favor of the turtle.

The Terps opened the second half with the intensity that the Hoyas had shown early in the first. They reeled off four goals, the first less than a minute into the period. With less than 20 minutes of play remaining, Georgetown was down by one and struggling just to keep from falling further behind.

“Mentally we just weren’t tough enough and we didn’t play hard enough. We let Maryland control the tempo, which is what we did in the first half,” Simons said. “And when you let Maryland control the tempo, they win.”

After a timeout to regroup, the Hoyas looked to be turning their game back on. Junior midfielder Anouk Peters quickly found the back of the net for Georgetown, to tie the score. Maryland did what the Hoyas had not been able to, however, and shut down a normally high-powered offense. They also added three goals to their side of the board, to take a 12-9 lead with only seven minutes left.

Each team would score one more goal in the game, but the Hoyas were not able to pull it together, and fell to the Terrapins for the 13th time in series history. Last season’s 10-6 victory marked the only time Georgetown has ever beaten Maryland in a series that dates back 26 years.

Statistically, Georgetown held an advantage, picking up 23 groundballs to Maryland’s 13, and causing twice as many turnovers as they had. The teams were tied for draws at 12 apiece.

Georgetown fired off nine more shots than Maryland, but Simons criticized the team’s shot selection. “Our shooting was terrible. I wouldn’t say that one of our players made good shots, even the ones that went in. Our shooting was horrendous. We won’t beat Podunk U. shooting like that.”

It was not simply statistics that beat the Hoyas. The ball control they displayed in the first period was left in the locker room during the halftime break, and Georgetown looked sluggish. The Hoyas were unable to perform as a team in the second half, a symptom that has ailed them of late.

“Leadership, intensity, focus – all those cliche words coaches love to say – we didn’t have it on the field in the second half,” Simons said.

The Hoyas will try to rebound from their recent slump when they travel to North Carolina Sunday to take on the No. 11 UNC Tar Heels. The Heels were the only team to beat Georgetown in the regular season last year, ruining their hopes of an undefeated season. This time around, Georgetown needs the win not to maintain its record but to salvage its season.

Opening draw is at 1 p.m.