The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team found out what happens when a second-half team doesn’t play well in the second half Saturday, losing 14-10 to Johns Hopkins University.
The No. 6 Hoyas (12-4, 5-0 Big East) have frequently under-performed in the first half throughout this season, but in their final regular-season game against the No. 11 Blue Jays (11-5, 3-3 American Lacrosse), consistency prevailed.
“We just expected to turn it up a notch instead of actually doing it on the field,” Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried said. “When you expect something to happen as opposed to doing it, bad things occur. It was BU revisited,” he added, referring to Georgetown’s 10-8 loss earlier in the season, in which the Hoyas were plagued with similar problems.
The Blue Jays came out hard from the first whistle, winning the draw and finding the back of the net in just nine seconds. Hopkins sophomore attack Sarah Walsh tallied her first of three. A Georgetown answer by senior attack Hollis Pica was whistled off for a crease violation and JHU capitalized, scooping a groundball into the goal to take a 2-0 lead.
Nearly nine minutes into the game, the Hoyas finally got on the board when senior midfielder Lauren Redler ran the ball from midfield, firing a shot past Jays’ juniors goaltender Lauren Riddick. Hopkins responded with two goals for a 4-1 lead, but Georgetown’s seniors led an attack to tie the game at four on goals from midfielder Lauryn Bernier and attacks Sarah Oliphant and Catherine Elbe.
The teams traded goals over the remainder of the half. Georgetown never lead, only being able to tie the game at five and six. With 2.1 seconds left on the clock, JHU freshman midfielder Kelley Putnam slipped one by Georgetown senior goalie Sarah Robinson to take a 7-6 lead into the break.
“They wanted it more than we did. We didn’t respond. When you play a good team and you don’t show up and play well for 60 minutes, you lose,” Fried said. “We played well at times, but we couldn’t put two moments together. We couldn’t play well on offense and then on defense or vice versa.”
Georgetown sophomore attack Coco Stanwick, who scored a goal to tie the game at five in the first half, led scoring in the second half, knotting the game again at seven just two minutes in. Hopkins responded, though, and within 30 seconds, the Jays had put up two goals with sophomore attacks Mary Key and Sarah Walsh scoring one apiece. Key had five on the day, while Walsh recorded three goals.
Trailing 7-9, Stanwick took a pass from Elbe for a goal, but again Walsh, Key and JHU senior defender Lacey-Leigh Hentz knocked back goals. Facing a 12-8 deficit, Stanwick found the back of the net once more with 10 minutes left on the clock and later assisted to Elbe with six remaining. Two goals by Hopkins freshman mid Kadie Stamper, including one in the last five seconds, sealed the deal.
The Hoyas came into the game knowing that regardless of its outcome, they had secured a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, were fighting to be included in an at-large bid, which they earned.
“That’s three times this year that somebody needed a victory, came in and took it. Duke, Princeton and Hopkins all needed to win when we played them, and they did,” Fried said.
Georgetown, a fifth seed in the 16-team tournament, will play host to Towson University (13-5, 5-2 Colonial) in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday, May 12. Towson, who won its first CAA championship this year, will be playing in its first NCAA tournament.
