The Georgetown University men’s lacrosse team stunned the No. 5 University of Virginia Cavaliers on May 10, winning their first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament 14-10 and advancing to the quarterfinals. It was the first time in program history that Georgetown beat Virginia.
The Hoyas (11-4, 5-0 Big East) disrupted the Cavaliers’ (10-7) offensive flow and junior goalkeeper Anderson Moore had a season-high 15 saves — including many sprawling, point-blank stops — in the victory.
Georgetown won the first possession but was unable to capitalize, allowing Virginia goalie Jake Marek to pick off a pass by sophomore midfielder Kevin Miller. The Cavaliers stormed down the field and midfielder Lindan Verville rocketed Virginia into the lead. Just 90 seconds later, Virginia attacker Ryan Colsey’s five-hole shot found its way past Moore to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead.
The Hoyas came to life 40 seconds later, when senior midfielder Lucas Dudemaine found first-year midfielder Natty Mason, who scored from the left side to get Georgetown going.
At 6:44, when Miller saw Marek out of position, he fired an unexpected shot from the right side. Marek scrambled to make the save, but sophomore attacker Jack Ransom recovered the rebound, scoring to tie the game at 2-2. A minute later, graduate attacker Rory Connor bounced a shot past Marek to give the Hoyas their first lead of the night.
With four minutes left, Moore made a kick-out save on a point-blank shot, but Virginia attacker Brendan Millon scored off the rebound to tie the game again. Millon’s goal kick-started a scoring flurry for the Cavaliers. Virginia added points at 2:58 and 1:51 to leave the first period with a 5-3 lead.
Virginia midfielder Owen Crann opened the second quarter, scoring on a cross-goal shot about four minutes into the period. Rory Connor responded just 19 seconds later, bouncing a shot past Marek to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 6-4.
At 9:56, Ransom threw the ball to graduate midfielder Joe Vranizan, who fired from distance to bring Georgetown within one. Shortly afterward, the Cavaliers scored on a man-up opportunity to retake a 2-goal lead.
After winning the following faceoff, Virginia raced right up the gut, stopped only by a tremendous save from Moore. Moore’s heroics were part of an overall impressive defensive performance, where the Hoyas forced 21 turnovers, tied for the most Virginia committed all season.
Virginia was called for a penalty soon after, giving Georgetown a man-up opportunity. There, junior attacker Liam Connor found junior attacker Jack Schubert on the right side. Schubert lept in front of a Virginia defender, firing past Marek to make it 7-6 with 5:39 remaining in the half.
The Hoyas controlled possession for the next several minutes, and though they came close to scoring twice, the Cavaliers escaped the onslaught unharmed.
After Head Coach Kevin Warne called a timeout with just 90 seconds remaining in the half, Bickel found Schubert, who scored to tie the game. With 8 seconds left, Bickel emerged on the left side and spun around, striking to give Georgetown an 8-7 lead going into half.
The Cavaliers won the faceoff to begin the second half but could not convert, instead allowing the Hoyas to regain possession, before Schubert ripped home at 12:14 to make it 9-7 for the Hoyas.
As the game got more physical and the crowd became increasingly frenzied, Moore made an incredible point-blank save with 6:55 left in the third period. Liam Connor capitalized on the ensuing possession, finding Ransom in front to put the Hoyas up by 3.
The Cavaliers rediscovered their offensive spark with just over three minutes left in the third period. Attacker Truitt Sunderland found the back of the net to narrow Georgetown’s lead to 10-8 and three minutes later attacker McCabe Millon scored again to get Virginia within one.
Both teams had chances early in the fourth period but neither found the net. With eight minutes left in the game, Ransom drew a delayed penalty after being knocked down by two Cavalier defenders, but came out of the scrum with the ball and scored to complete his hat trick and fire Georgetown into an 11-9 lead.
Virginia had chances, but Moore kept his goal empty as the period wound down. At 4:09, Liam Connor fed a line drive under Marek for his first goal of the night, putting the Hoyas up 12-9. A minute later, Rory Connor followed up his younger brother and completed a hat trick. Shortly after, senior defender Charlie McGurrin added an empty net tally to make it 14-9.
A late goal from the Cavaliers at 2:45 was not enough to get them back into the game. With the 14-10 win, Georgetown upset Virginia in front of their home crowd, beating the Cavaliers for the first time in the program’s history.
Warne said the team was fueled by an underdog mentality going into the game.
“Nobody thought we were going to win this game,” Warne said in a postgame press conference. “And that was the best thing for us. Our guys really just honed in on that and said, ‘Hey, let’s just go play lacrosse.’”
“Let’s buckle down, let’s defend space, let’s make it really simple, let’s get the offense the ball,” Warne added.
Warne said the defense also played a huge role in their win.
“I just think we played really smart,” Warne said. “You can have a philosophy — for us it’s all seven guys have to defend the ball, not just one guy. Our guys just took it upon themselves and said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna defend every dodge and we’re gonna do it together.’”
The Hoyas will take on Duke University (10-4) on May 17 in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals. The Hoyas will hope to repeat their 2025 NCAA tournament victory over the Blue Devils to make it back to Charlottesville, Va., for the semifinals Memorial Day weekend.
