COLLEGE PARK, MD. – For four seasons now, senior long stick midfielder Kyle Sweeney has been the backbone of the Georgetown defense. Sweeney was First Team All-American in 2002 and was named the ECAC’s Defensive Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons. So, going into last night’s game against No. 4 Maryland, the No. 5 Hoyas received very discouraging news when they were informed that their co-captain and star had broken a bone in his left ankle and would be out for the rest of the season, thus ending his Georgetown lacrosse career.

The Hoyas still fought hard and stayed with the Terps for much of the game but eventually fell 9-5 before a crowd of 2,671 at Byrd Stadium. Maryland improved to 9-3 with the win while Georgetown dropped to 10-2.

“It’s coming at a very unfortunate time,” Sweeney said. “I’ve gone four years pretty much unscathed. I’ve got to look at the positives. We still have a long way to go to winning the national championship. I just have to try to be as positive as I can and try to still be a leader.”

Sweeney limped off the field in the final minutes of Georgetown’s 8-4 victory over Rutgers Saturday. He tried to return to the game but was unable to do so. After Saturday’s game though, he still expected to be ready to play last night but yesterday morning the fracture was found and his season was over.

“It hurts having him off the field,” senior defenseman Pat Collins said. “He could have the biggest impact of any defensive player in the country. There’s not a guy who wants to be on the field more than Kyle.”

Sweeney tried after the game to put his disappointment in perspective.

“There’s a lot of worse things going on in the world,” he said. “I’m a pretty fortunate kid to have this as the big tragedy in my life.”

The game was largely a defensive contest filled with turnovers. Neither team played like the top five-ranked teams that they are. The teams each committed 33 turnovers and 38 of the 66 turnovers in the game were unforced. They combined to commit 21 turnover in the first quarter alone and 20 more in the final quarter.

“We just didn’t take very good care of the ball,” Georgetown Head Coach Dave Urick said. “We had so many turnovers and you can’t do that against a team of this caliber.”

Despite the loss of Sweeney, the Georgetown defense still was solid through much of the game. Sophomore defenseman Brodie Merrill and freshman defenseman John Trapp each saw time at long stick midfielder in place of Sweeney. They, along with the back line – consisting of Collins, fellow senior Brant Gresham and junior Andrew Braziel – held Maryland to just four goals in the first half. The Terps scored four of their nine goals in the final twenty minutes of the game. Sophomore goalie Rich D’Andrea played well in the net, making 13 saves.

The Georgetown offense was never able to mount a consistent attack. It scored only twice in the first half and connected on only five of its 43 shots. When the Hoyas did put the ball on net, they were usually stifled by senior goalie Danny McCormick, who stopped 14 of 19 shots.

Maryland led most of the way after freshman attackman Matt Walters, the ACC Rookie of the Year, opened up the scoring just over a minute into the game. From that point on, the Terps always kept the Hoyas at arms’ length. Georgetown was never able to tie the game after the first quarter. They closed to within one goal at 4-3 in the second quarter and again at 5-4 in the third quarter, but Maryland answered back with goals of its own each time.

“I told our guys this is the type of experience that will help us down the road,” Urick said.

The Hoyas must rebound for their final game of the season when they play host to the defending national champion, No. 8 Syracuse, this Saturday at Harbin Field. The Orangemen have won the last four meetings between the two schools but have struggled this season. They come into Saturday’s game with a record of only 7-5. Both teams are still in good position to receive an at-large bid when the 16-team NCAA Tournament field is announced Sunday evening. Both teams, though, could significantly improve their seeding in the tournament with a win. Faceoff is set for 1 p.m.