If the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team (5-8, 2-3 Big East) travels to Piscataway, N.J., this Saturday with anything but its best effort, Rutgers (2-12, 0-5 Big East) may well end its season before the night is over. But if Head Coach KevinWarne and his boys can replicate the efforts they have exhibited against three top-10 foes in the past three weeks and emerge victorious, their season will begin anew in the program’s first Big East tournament.
“I’ve been here for four years, but it hasn’t really panned out the way that we wanted,” said senior attack TravisComeau, whose previous three seasons have all ended after the last game of the regular season. “It has been an unreal time with all these guys, and to make the postseason and make a run — that would be the perfect way to top it off.”
With a win Saturday, Georgetown would finish the season with a 3-3 conference record and tied for fourth place in the Big East with St. John’s. Thanks to a 14-13 overtime win over the Red Storm back on April 6, the Hoyas own the tiebreaker between the two schools for the final spot in the Big East tournament.
“As a team, there are still one or two things not allowing us to take that next step, but we control our own destiny,” Warne said. “We don’t have to worry about any crazy scenarios, just Rutgers.”
This week’s opponent has lost 11 straight games and is 0-5 in the Big East. A win over the Scarlet Knights cannot be taken for granted, however, as Rutgers played No. 7 Syracuse and No. 1 Notre Dame to one-goal games. In their final game, the Scarlet Knight’s seven seniors will try to end their careers with the program’s first conference win since March of last year.
“I’m not worried about a letdown at all because we’ve got the sense that it’s playoffs,” sophomore attack Reilly O’Connor said. “If we lose, our season is over. The guys are really going right now, we’re really fired up.”
O’Connor, an Ontario native with the accent to prove it, paces the Georgetown offense with 22 goals and 20 assists thus far on the year.
Along with Comeau, he attended The Hill Academy and played for Brodie Merrill (MSB ’05), a two-time All-American and the 2005 National Defensive Player of the Year who was deemed the best player in the world by Inside Lacrosse magazine in 2010.
Now serving as the head coach at one of Canada’s premier lacrosse prep schools, he has created a nice recruiting pipeline for his alma mater.
“I always looked up to Brodie, and he had such a big influence on me when I was at the Hill Academy,” Comeau said. “I didn’t have a lot of offers at first, but Brodie encouraged me. Once I heard from Georgetown, I committed without visiting.”
The Hoyas received an enormous boost this week as their current star, senior captain Brian Casey, returned to practice for the first time since injuring his right leg March 16 during a win over Providence. When healthy, Casey — the Hoyas’ leading scorer a year ago — is one of the smoothest attackmen in Division I.
“We’re going to have to wait and see with Brian,” Warne said. “If he came back, that would be great; he’ll be a game-time decision. He’s playing with a lot of pain right now.”
The opening faceoff for Georgetown’s win-or-go-home matchup with Rutgers is set for 7 p.m. Saturday.
