Seeking its first conference win, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team traveled to Rhode Island to take on the Providence Friars, falling 13-7 in the team’s fifth consecutive loss.
Sophomore attack Austin McDonald highlighted the Hoya offense by tallying his first career hat trick. The sophomore attack has been a contributor all season and is now finding his rhythm as a scorer, scoring five of his nine goals in the last two games, enough to land him on the Big East Honor Roll of the Week.
Leading scorer sophomore attack Daniel Bucaro was held to a relatively quiet game for his standards, but still notched a goal and an assist, as did junior midfielder Craig Berge.
Initially, both teams’ offenses were stymied, with both sides scoring one goal in the first quarter. Heading into the second quarter, both teams found some offensive rhythm, but the Friars began winning possessions from the Hoyas and staged a four-goal run. The Hoyas responded with back-to-back goals to finish the second and trailed 5-3 at halftime.
A McDonald strike brought Georgetown to within one goal to begin the half, but Providence once again found a way to reclaim momentum, winning the ground ball game and scoring three in a row following the Georgetown goal. The Hoyas would not go quietly, however, as McDonald completed his hat trick to keep Georgetown within striking distance at 8-5 moving into the fourth.
As the momentum shifted towards Georgetown, Providence took advantage of a lingering slashing penalty to score on an uneven situation, pushing the lead to 9-5 only 23 seconds into the final quarter. Two more Friar goals extended the lead further, but the defiant Hoyas kept peppering Providence’s sophomore goalie Tate Boyce with shots. Boyce recorded 17 saves against the Hoyas and earned Big East Defensive Player of the week honors for his performance.
While Boyce made it difficult for the Hoyas to find an opening, Bucaro and Berge put in two goals within a minute of each other to keep the Hoyas alive, at 11-7. But the Friars proved too strong with the lead and scored two more goals to seal their 13-7 victory.
Georgetown’s recent woes in the faceoff battle came to an end against Providence as junior Peter Tagliaferri won 11-of-19 trips to the Faceoff X. However, Georgetown struggled to take advantage of Providence’s penalties, scoring one goal in six man-up opportunities.
Georgetown looks to put together a complete game against archrival Villanova (6-5, 1-1 Big East) in its second Big East home match of the season. Opening faceoff is set for this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on Cooper Field. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
