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Junior midfielder Scott Kocis eludes a defender in Georgetown’s 10-8 loss to Navy on Saturday
As the final seconds ticked away, the Midshipmen in the stands at Multi-Sport Facility had only one thing to say: “This is our house.” And for the better part of 60 minutes it was as Navy jumped to an early lead and held off a furious Georgetown comeback for a 10-8 win and possession of the Boyle Cup, given in honor of the longtime lacrosse referee Scott Boyle who collapsed and died during the
“This game, since I’ve been here, has always been a really close, hard-fought game,” Urick said.
The Hoyas got on the board first with 1:48 left in the first quarter after sophomore midfielder Max Seligmann found senior midfielder Dan D’Agnes on the wing, who put the ball in the far corner of the net for the first goal of the day.
Navy responded with a 4-0 run over the next 21:26 of the game. Junior attack Brendan Connors had two second quarter goals in the Midshipmen run. Poor passing by Georgetown led to eight turnovers in the second period, setting up transition opportunities for Navy, who took advantage of them.
For 14 minutes of the third quarter the Midshipmen continued to put the pressure on the Hoyas, opening up a 6-2 lead behind the strong play of senior goalkeeper Tommy Phelan who had eight saves in the quarter, and 15 for the game, in his first appearance of the season.
“If I ever have a decent game, it’s the mark of a great defense,” Phelan said. “Those guys played their hearts out this week, and they played their hearts out today.”
Navy Head Coach Richie Meade chose to go with Phelan over freshman R.J. Wickham and senior Matt Coughlin, showing the unique conditions that the military academies must consider.
“We had thought [Phelan] gave us the best chance to win this game,” Meade said. “It’s getting to be April and R.J. is a plebe at the Naval Academy, and I didn’t know would happen and I didn’t want him to be under that pressure.”
Down 6-2 with under a minute to play in the third quarter Georgetown got itself back into the game. Junior midfielder Andrew Brancaccio got things started with 23 seconds left in the quarter on a rifle from 14 yards out. Senior midfielder Dan Vinson, who was 14-of-20 at the faceoff on the day, won the ensuing faceoff. Junior attack Craig Dowd then found senior midfielder Chris Taylor for on the right wing for a goal with five seconds left in the quarter.
With a one minute extra-man opportunity, Georgetown won the final faceoff of the quarter thanks to a ground ball pickup by junior defenseman Barney Ehrmann to ensure possession to start the fourth quarter. Georgetown took advantage of the possession and the EMO with a goal by redshirt sophomore attack Ricky Mirabito, who cut to the center of the zone and took a feed from Dowd, playing the X, before beating Phelan to put the score at 6-5.
Both teams traded goals the rest of the way as Georgetown never got closer than a one goal advantage. Anytime Georgetown scored, Navy responded with a goal of its own.
“It hurts when you watch it, but I don’t think it came down to that,” said Dowd of Navy’s responses. “We didn’t get a good jump on the game and we started getting things going at the end, but we couldn’t get the offense and the defense going at the same time.”
After Brancaccio scored on a running shot down the left wing to make the score 8-7, Navy responded with back-to-back faceoff wins and back-to-back goals. Navy’s first goal o the 2-0 run came off of a beautiful drive by junior attack Tim Paul, who took the ball from behind the cage with junior defenseman Eric Bicknese on his hip, and beat redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Jack Davis low. Under a minute later the Midshipmen would add another goal to extend their lead to three goals at 10-7, a lead that would prove insurmountable for the Hoyas.
The Hoyas stand at 3-5, and it appears as if the only road to the NCAA tournament will require an ECAC championship. Next up is a road trip to Mount St. Mary’s University on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
“This is an interesting dynamic for these guys,” Urick said. “Not too many of these guys, actually none of these guys, has been in this position since they’ve come to Georgetown. . We’ll see how they respond.”
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