The No. 24 Georgetown women’s lacrosse team fell at home to the No. 2 Maryland squad 17-8 last Wednesday, April 17. They were able to recover with a decisive 18-4 victory over Old Dominion later in the week.
Georgetown’s offensive effort against Maryland (16-0) was led by senior attack Taylor Gebhardt and junior attack Emily Ehle, who each contributed a goal and two assists. Junior attack Michaela Bruno and senior midfielder Francesca Whitehurst added two points apiece for the Hoyas (9-7, 3-1 Big East).
Senior goalkeeper Haelle Chomo posted seven saves. The defense forced 14 turnovers, but allowed the Terps to take 32 shots, while the Hoya offense only managed 21.
The decisive Maryland victory was largely enabled by the team’s dominance over possession. The Terps managed to haul in 21 draw controls, while the Hoyas secured only six.
The Hoyas jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first five minutes off scores from Bruno and senior attacker Morgan Ryan. Maryland responded with a goal of its own, but Georgetown answered with two more, putting the score at 4-1 just over 10 minutes into the frame.
The scoring slowed down at this point, and the Terps slowly clawed back, outscoring the Hoyas 3-1 over the next 15 minutes of gameplay. Georgetown responded, however, with three goals in the final four minutes of the half. Entering halftime, the scoreboard read 8-4 in favor of the Hoyas.
Georgetown’s final goal of the first half would be their final goal of the game. Maryland dominated the second half, blanking Georgetown while scoring 13 goals of their own. The game would end in defeat for the Hoyas, with the scoreboard reading 17-8.
Georgetown’s following game, against a much less formidable Old Dominion squad (3-13, 0-4), proved much less challenging.
Whitehurst led the way on offense with four goals and three assists, while Gebhart tallied five points and Ryan added four more. In total, six Hoyas scored multiple points on the day, and the team enjoyed a 42-11 advantage in shots.
The Hoya defense made easy work of the Monarch offense, forcing 19 turnovers and allowing Chomo to get the win with only three saves. Following the possession struggles of the Maryland game, Georgetown bounced back by hauling in 17 of the game’s 23 draw control contests.
Neither team scored for five minutes, a drought broken by a goal from Ryan and two more from Whitehurst. This hot start set the tone for the half, which saw the Hoyas outscoring the Monarchs 11-2 and holding them scoreless for the final eight minutes of the frame.
The second half followed a similar pattern, the only difference being that Georgetown started off the scoring just 19 seconds into the frame. Old Dominion scored another two during this half, but Georgetown put up seven, including senior Lilliana Brown scoring her first career goal to end the game. As the final horn sounded, Georgetown had a 18-4 conference win.
Georgetown’s loss to Maryland is certainly a setback. Given their seven losses, the Hoyas may struggle to find their way into the NCAA tournament, despite the fact that all seven of these losses have come against teams with higher rankings. The win over Old Dominion, however, allows Georgetown to clinch its 13th consecutive Big East tournament berth, becoming the only team to hold the distinction of making every single conference tournament since its inception in 2007. A strong showing in the Big East tournament could help the Hoyas secure an at-large bid into the NCAAs, while an outright victory would guarantee them a spot.
Georgetown will close out its regular season Saturday with an away tilt against Big East rival Marquette, where a win would help to ensure a second-place conference finish.
