“For some reason, in the game we just couldn’t do it,” senior goalie Maggie Koch said. “It’s not a lack of talent or effort, it’s just that mentally, we just weren’t there at all for the most part.”

Despite averaging more than 30 shots per game earlier in the season, the Hoyas could only muster 22 to the Fighting Irish’s 30. Georgetown posted only 17 ground balls to Notre Dame’s 25, surrendering too many possessions to the Irish.

“We have been playing a little bit tentative up to this point the last couple games,” Head Coach Ricky Fried said. “I don’t have any good reasons for that other than that we as the coaches need to change some things . and make sure we go out and play with a little bit more confidence and not sit on our heels as much.”

The beginning of the game looked positive for the Blue and Gray, as freshman midfielder Ashby Kaestner notched her first career hat trick to give Georgetown a 3-1 lead, while the Irish suffered through a 12:43 scoring drought. But once Notre Dame came back, Georgetown got a double dose of its own medicine. The Fighting Irish gradually racked up the points as the Hoyas chased frantically in a 26:03 scoring drought. With 4:49 left on the clock in the second half, Notre Dame earned a 5-4 advantage, one they would never relinquish.

“What’s happening right now is it looks like if we don’t score a goal, the defense feels like we have to stop somebody, as opposed to doing what we normally would do, and then we’re stretching ourselves and giving up a goal,” Fried said. “Then the attack feels like we have to score, and it becomes like a negative snowball effect.”

In the second half, the snowballing continued, as Georgetown scored just four goals to Notre Dame’s seven.

“I think we didn’t quite get into our flow,” senior attacker Brittany Baschuk said. “Sometimes in practice we really get going and it’s really smooth, and that’s when we get a lot of opportunities and finishing our shots. And you know, we get in the game and there’s turnovers, or we’re just not playing the way we’re capable of, then we don’t get into that flow, so I think that’s been hurting us.”

Both the players and coaches have stayed focused on the road ahead in an effort to quickly remedy the disappointment associated with a loss.

“I kind of consider Notre Dame was just a snowball effect,” Koch said. “It was the kind of game we should not have lost, especially not by that much. So I think practice this week has been really good so far because we’ve been working on a lot of things we’ve kind of gotten away from throughout the season, so it’s forced us to refocus some.”

The Hoyas will play their two final regular-season contests this weekend when they play host to cross-town rival George Washington on Friday at 3:45 p.m. and Connecticut on Sunday at noon. Seeding for the Big East tournament will be up for grabs between Syracuse, Notre Dame and Georgetown, all currently 3-1 in the league, with Rutgers lagging at 2-2.

“We still have an opportunity to win the Big East championship,” Fried said. “We have an opportunity to rest . and to focus on what’s ahead of us instead of what’s behind us.”