The Georgetown men’s lacrosse team closed off the non-conference season with a heartbreaking loss at Loyola University Maryland, dropping the contest 11-10.
The matchup pitted the Hoyas (2-6) against the No. 18 Greyhounds and came down to an exciting finish in which Georgetown had an opportunity to force overtime in the last 20 seconds but could not find the back of the net.
The contest opened with Loyola jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead before redshirt junior Peter Conley scored the first Georgetown goal and hit a major career milestone. His opening, unassisted goal marked the 100th point of his career, making him the 21st Hoya to reach this mark in program history.
Conley’s historic score was the only Hoya goal of the first quarter, and the Greyhounds took a 4-1 lead into the second. After trading scores at the start of the second period, the Hoyas’ offense came alive. Behind shots from Conley, sophomore attack Daniel Bucaro and freshman attack Nick Carraway allowed Georgetown to tie up the game at five. However, momentum equalized as Loyola answered with two goals of their own, taking back the lead at the half, 7-5.
At the start of the second half, Georgetown found its rhythm and blitzed Loyola for another run of three goals, this time taking the lead off the stick of Bucaro, 8-7. The defense tightened up during the two Hoya runs led by junior goalkeeper Nick Marocco, who recorded a season-high 17 saves with 13 coming in the first half. Marocco also made this his sixth double-digit save game of the season.
The Hoyas’ defense could not keep the Greyhound’s offense at bay, a scoring unit led by junior midfielder Jay Drapeau’s three goals and sophomore attack Pat Spencer’s three assists. Loyola responded to Georgetown’s run with a pair of goals to tie the game heading into the fourth quarter. Loyola continued to take momentum as they scored back-to-back goals in the span of a minute in the fourth quarter to take a 10-8 lead at the 7:56 mark.
Bucaro chipped at the lead with his third goal of the game, but the Greyhounds put another shot in the net with only 1:20 left to put the Hoyas down 11-9. Junior midfielder Craig Berge began the comeback bid with his second score of the game with 58 seconds left. The Hoya defense came up with a big takeaway and got their offense possession with about 20 seconds left on the clock, but Georgetown could not get a clean look to try and force overtime. Time expired before they could get a shot off.
Now looking forward to the Big East season, the Hoyas hope to take the lessons of a tough non-conference slate in preparation for Marquette (3-2), Georgetown’s Big East season opener. Georgetown’s rigorous non-conference schedule included five teams currently ranked in the top 20 in the nation, and two in the top 5, including No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 5 Hofstra.
Georgetown’s Big East foe, Marquette, comes to Cooper Field the winners of two straight games and features a Tewaaraton Watch List player, senior attack Ryan McNamara. McNamara has been a thorn in the side for the Hoyas, scoring an overtime game winner against Georgetown as a freshman in 2014 and notching a career-high five goals against the Hoyas in last season’s matchup. The Hoyas will look to slow down McNamara and the Golden Eagles to claim a win in their Big East opener.
Georgetown takes on Marquette in the team’s first Big East action of the season at Cooper Field on Saturday. Opening faceoff is set for noon.
