The Georgetown men’s lacrosse team continued its hot start to the season with a 19-1 victory over the St. John’s Red Storm on Feb. 27. This high-scoring game means the Hoyas have held their opponents to two goals on the season thus far. 

The Hoyas (2-0, 2-0 Big East) had a balanced offensive attack against the Red Storm (1-2, 0-2 Big East) with 11 different players scoring goals. Graduate student attacker Nicky Petkevich led Georgetown with four goals, giving him five goals so far this season. 

Jake Carraway, another graduate student attacker, followed his eight-goal performance against Villanova in the Hoya’s season opener with three more goals against St. John’s, for 11 goals this season. Carraway’s second goal made him Georgetown’s all-time leading scorer; Carraway now has 155 career goals.

Sophomore midfielder Graham Bundy Jr. joined Petkevich and Carraway with a hat trick of his own. Bundy finished the game with three goals and now has five for the season. 

In addition to Georgetown’s electrifying offense, the Hoyas possessed a stifling defense. For the second game in a row, Georgetown held its opponent to only one goal.

The huge faceoff advantage for the Hoyas allowed them to outshoot St. John’s 47-25, with a 33-15 difference in shots on goal. Overall, Georgetown won 18 of the 24 faceoffs. 

The Hoyas wasted little time getting on the board in the first period. Junior faceoff specialist James Reilly won the opening faceoff by using a face dodge and running straight through the Red Storm defense, scoring in the first six seconds of regulation. 

Georgetown rode its early momentum to a 7-1 first-period lead. After the Hoyas opened the game with a 6-0 run, attacker Mike Madsen scored St. John’s lone goal with 2:53 left in the first period. 

After the scoring explosion of the first period, Georgetown played a messy second period, committing 10 turnovers. 

With 5:20 left in the second period, the Hoyas committed a costly penalty, eliminating the chance for a goal by junior defender Alex Mazzone. 

Despite Georgetown’s mistakes, the Red Storm was unable to produce much on offense, thanks to the stellar play of senior goalie Owen McElroy. McElroy finished the game with 10 saves, five of which came in the second period. 

Petkevich was a bright spot in the Hoyas’ offense during the second period, scoring his first two goals of the game and extending Georgetown’s lead to 9-1.

The Hoyas’ offense came back to life during the third period, during which they scored eight goals. 

Mazzone made up for his earlier negated goal after running the break and scored with 10:33 on the clock, putting Georgetown up 12-1. Petkevich and Carraway also added two goals each, while Bundy and senior midfielder Colin Munro each added a goal. 

Petkevich’s second goal of the period came off of a SportsCenter-worthy behind-the-back pass from Carraway. By the time the third period ended, the Hoyas had built an insurmountable lead of 17-1. 

The lead Georgetown built going into the fourth period allowed Head Coach Kevin Warne to give his backup goalies valuable playing time. Both sophomore goalie Noah Klein and freshman goalie Todd Kennedy Jr. got into the game and together made four saves. 

Senior attacker Niko Gekas capped the Hoyas’ blowout with two goals in the final period.

Even with Georgetown’s recent success, the team needs to remain focused. Georgetown and the University of Denver Pioneers are the only remaining teams undefeated in Big East play. The Hoyas do not want to lose ground to Denver before the two teams face off March 13. 

Georgetown will return home March 6 to face Marquette on Cooper Field.