Charles Nailen/The Hoya Junior attack Mike Hammer scored the first goal of the game against Loyola Wednesday.

BALTIMORE – After suffering its first loss of the season Saturday to No. 8 Massachusetts, the No. 5 Georgetown men’s lacrosse team had little time to sit back and lick its wounds. Just four days after losing the game and the ECAC Conference Championship, Georgetown was back on the field playing for its NCAA Tournament life against No. 11 Loyola.

The Hoyas showed that they were up to the challenge, as they trounced the Greyhounds 15-6 Wednesday before a crowd of 3,413 at Curley Field. Many attendees were long gone by game’s end. Georgetown knocked Loyola down early and never let them back up. The win solidifies the Hoyas’ NCAA Tournament hopes and likely leaves the Greyhounds on the outside looking in.

It was only Georgetown’s second victory in 23 meetings with the fellow Jesuit school and its first since 1976. The win also provided some measure of vengeance for the Hoyas after the Greyhounds’ 11-9 victory ended their season in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament. Georgetown improved to 10-1 with the win while Loyola fell to 8-3.

“This really tested our character,” senior attack Steve Dusseau said. “To come back from a loss, it was just a huge game.”

From the opening face-off, Georgetown was in complete control. Junior defenseman Pat Collins stripped Loyola sophomore attack Stephen Brundage on the Greyhounds’ first offensive possession, setting the tone for the Hoyas’ defensive dominance on the day. The Georgetown defense held Loyola’s two leading scorers, Brundage and senior midfielder Mike Sullivan, to just three goals combined, two of which came in the fourth quarter after the game was long decided. It was a return to form for the defensive unit, which had been strong all year but struggled in Saturday’s 16-13 loss to UMass.

“I felt we needed to play a lot better defensively,” Head Coach Dave Urick said. “We played with more intensity and more of a sense of purpose.”

Offensively, Dusseau led the way once again, as he continued to make his case for the Tewaaraton Trophy. He scored four goals and added two assists. Sophomore midfielder Walid Hajj added a career-high three goals, all of which came during the Hoyas’ initial run, that allowed them to take control of the game. Five other Hoyas added goals.

Junior attack Mike Hammer got Georgetown going early with an unassisted goal three minutes into the game. Georgetown was able to maintain possession for much of the early going, and Dusseau put the Hoyas up 2-0 with 8:45 to go in the first quarter off an assist from sophomore attack Neal Goldman. Hajj scored his first to make the lead three, but Loyola would answer before the quarter ended to cut the lead back to two goals after one quarter.

After a solid first quarter, the Hoyas began to fire on all cylinders in the second. They scored four goals in the opening four minutes to increase their lead to 7-1. Hajj, junior long stick midfielder Kyle Sweeney, Dusseau and senior midfielder Phil Vincenti all chipped in goals. After five scoreless minutes, Georgetown got going again with Hajj scoring his third and junior midfielder P. J. Paolisso adding a goal to make the score 9-1. Brundage would manage to score his only goal of the game late in the quarter but Dusseau and junior midfielder Trevor Walker would each score to give the Hoyas a commanding 11-2 lead. Walker’s goal came with only four seconds remaining and gave Loyola one more reason to hang its heads during the break.

“We wanted to make sure that once we were up, we kept it that way,” Dusseau said.

While there was still a half to play, it looked like the Greyhounds’ spirits had been broken the first 30 minutes. Loyola was not able to mount any sort of charge as the second half began. Georgetown shut them out in the third while scoring twice itself to extend its lead to 13-2 entering the final quarter.

“It didn’t seem like they were trying to get back in the game,” junior defense Brant Gresham said.

The Loyola offense finally began to show signs of life in the fourth as Georgetown emptied its bench. Four of the Greyhounds’ six goals came in the final period. With 4:55 remaining and Georgetown leading 15-5, senior goalie Scott Schroeder exited the game for the first time this season. Schroeder stopped 10 shots on the day.

“Scott was amazing in the cage,” Dusseau said.

Georgetown held an edge in nearly every statistical category. It outshot Loyola 34-25. More than half the Greyhounds’ shots came in the fourth quarter when the Hoyas already led by 11 goals. Senior midfielder Mike Kanach and freshman midfielder Andy Corno combined to win 15 of 25 face-offs. The Hoyas picked up 56 ground balls compared to only 31 by the Greyhounds.

“Against UMass, we just didn’t have as much fire in our belly as we did today,” Urick said.

Despite the victory, Urick said he is far from feeling secure about the Hoyas NCAA Tournament chances.

“I don’t feel like there’s a comfort level for anyone,” Urick said. “I’m glad I’m not the guy who makes those decisions.”

Next up for the Hoyas is ECAC conference rival Rutgers, who are struggling through a miserable 2-10 season. They sit in last place in the conference.

Face-off is set for 3:30 p.m. at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, N.J.