Gloomy is a fitting word to describe Wednesday – for all of us – but especially for the Georgetown. It was rainy and dark when the Hoyas fell to Loyola (10-4, 3-3), ending their undefeated Big East season. Georgetown (10-4, 5-1) remains tied for first place in the Big East going into its final conference match this weekend against last-place Cincinnati (5-9, 0-6).

Loyola came out strong, gaining a two-goal lead in the first five minutes. After four fruitless shot attempts for the Hoyas, junior attack Molly Ford put them on the scoreboard at 18:53, off a pass from sophomore attack Jordy Kirr. Roughly two minutes later, sophomore attack Jaqueline Giles fought for a ground ball pickup, secured it and started the Georgetown offensive. The Hoyas retained possession after a foul was called on the scrambling Loyola defense and got the ball to Kirr, who notched one of her own to tie the score at 2-2. But just 1:20 later the Greyhounds retaliated to retake the lead.

After ten minutes of scoreless play, which featured ten Hoyas shots, junior midfielder Ashby Kaestner scored her first of six goals in the match. Her second goal came a mere 19 seconds later, after the Hoyas won the draw control and charged upfield. As it turned out, Kaestner’s goal to put the Hoyas on top 4-3 would be the last of the half.

Loyola came out fiery in the second half, going on a 4-0 run in the first six and a half minutes of play, but the Hoyas stormed back. Kaestner notched back-to-back goals to put the Hoyas back within one, 6-7. Then Kaestner delivered the ball to Kirr who launched it into net for the equalizer and her second goal of the match.

Loyola stayed resilient, and with 18:42 to play, reclaimed the lead. Two and a half minutes later, the Greyhounds extended their lead to two, 9-7. Georgetown made a goalie substitution following the goal, replacing junior Caitlin Formby with sophomore Lauren Thomas.

Freshman midfielder Kelly Barnes’ first goal of the match and sixth of the season came just when the Hoyas needed it, to keep them within one. However, after a Loyola goal, Georgetown would stay at an arm’s length – never narrowing the Greyhound lead to one again.

After a draw control win and fast attack that resulted in a Loyola goal, Head Coach Ricky Fried called a timeout. This timeout did not do much to stop the Greyhound momentum – as they came right back out and won another draw control. Loyola went on to take three errant shots before junior attack Sarah Seats picked up a ground ball and started a Georgetown rush. The Hoyas got the ball to Kaestner who took a quick shot on net. The Loyola goalkeeper saved it, but could not secure possession. Kaestner aggressively got her own rebound and put the ball in for her fifth goal of the match.

Now leading 11-9 with just 6:41 to play, Loyola called a timeout to settle down its players. Following the timeout, the Greyhounds won the draw control, took the ball into the Hoya defensive zone and got a shot off. The shot went high, but Loyola managed to claim the rebound, and 20 seconds later, beat Thomas to go ahead 12-9. Then, Loyola won the post-goal draw control once more and mounted an attack – which resulted in another goal, sealing the Hoyas fate..

Kaestner was the match’s leading scorer, with a career-high six goals and two assists. However, the rest of the Hoyas failed to capitalize on their chances. Georgetown outshot Loyola 40-23 and caused 21 turnovers, compared with 13 it gave up. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, they did not make enough of their opportunities – on both ends of the field.

The weather forecast calls for a mostly sunny Saturday with a high of 76 degrees for Georgetown’s regular season finale against Cincinnati. The Hoyas hope the day will be a sunny one for them as they try to reverse Wednesday’s outcome.

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