Courtesy Adler The men’s lightweight crew team rows the Housatonic River in Derby, Conn. It lost to Yale by 2.3 seconds.

A couple of seconds made all the difference in the defeat experienced by the Georgetown lightweight men’s crew team at the hands of No. 1 Yale on Saturday. The Hoyas pulled a close race on the Housatonic River in Derby, Conn., but were unable to beat the nation’s top team.

The race was delayed at first due to poor visibility, but after a 25-minute wait, race officials declared that conditions were set for the race to begin. Facing a light headwind and a moderate downstream current, the teams commenced the 2,000m course.

It was only the second race with this lightweight lineup. The team anticipated trouble against an opponent considered to be the fastest team in the league but held its ground throughout the race.

At a rate of 36 strokes per minute, the Hoyas stayed even with the Bulldogs for the first 500m of the race. A powerful push from Yale moved them ahead to a two-seat advantage, but Georgetown countered with a Power 20 at the 750m mark. The surge enabled the Hoyas to close the gap somewhat, but the team still found itself in a slight deficit.

At 1,250m, Georgetown again rallied with a Power 20. Yale countered and maintained its two-seat lead, forcing the Hoyas to wait for a late-race run if they were to have any chance of earning the victory. Sophomore coxswain Louisa Seferis prepared for a final sprint to capture the race, but the Bulldogs countered the Hoyas’ push with a powerful move of their own. Yale widened its lead to four seats and finished the competition with a time of 5:45.1. Georgetown ended the race shortly thereafter at 5:47.4.

“Considering the fact that we’ve only rowed with this lineup for two days, we are pleased with our race today,” senior captain and national team rower Brian acLaughlin said. “We have a lot of room for improvement and we are confident that by the time the Eastern Sprints [meet] comes in May, we will be able to take it to them.”

The Hoyas’ second varsity team finished their race 6.3 seconds behind Yale’s second varsity with a time of 6:03.2.

“They pushed out early, but we stuck with them through most of the race,” junior Tony Leotti said. “With a stronger last 500 meters, we were right there.”

Next Saturday the men’s lightweight team takes on No. 2 Harvard and No. 3 Princeton at Lake Carnegie in Princeton, N.J. The men’s heavyweight team also travels to Princeton to race against Cornell.

“This weekend’s results reaffirmed our ability to compete with the best teams in the nation,” senior Tim Joyce said. “We’ve got plenty of room for improvement, and by next weekend we should be ready to take home some Ivy League shirts.”