The Georgetown University women’s lacrosse team came out at the gates strong in downtown Philadelphia, as the No. 22/23 Hoyas coasted to a 17-8 win over Drexel University. The Drexel win marks the Hoyas’ third in a row while Georgetown continues to assert itself as a Big East and NCAA tournament contender as the season enters the home stretch.
After a long bus ride and with hot playing weather, one could have excused the Hoyas for a sluggish start to the game. However, Georgetown (8-3, 1-0 Big East) came out firing. Junior midfielder Reagan Ziegler opened the scoring just under two minutes into the contest, finishing off a beautiful find from senior attacker Gracie Driggs. Both Ziegler and Driggs posted hat tricks for the squad, with Driggs tallying 7 points on 5 goals and 2 assists.
Georgetown had an early barrage, building a commanding 6-0 lead before Drexel (4-7, 1-2 CAA) got on the scoreboard with just 24 seconds remaining in the first quarter, thanks to a free-position goal by attacker Mary Claire Heubeck.
The Hoyas kept their foot on the gas to begin the second quarter, stretching their lead to 9-1 just over three minutes in after a goal by first-year attacker Molly Davies. With the game approaching blowout territory, the Dragons responded with a 4-0 run over the next ten minutes to claw back into the contest. The vaunted Hoyas defense, which entered the contest tied for 10th nationally in scoring defense at just 7.90 per game, was firmly on their heels.
Driggs halted the momentum swing, finding Ziegler for her second goal of the game with just 21 seconds left in the half to put a stop to the scoring drought and push the Hoyas’ lead back up to 5. The Dragons answered with a transition goal off a draw control with just three seconds remaining, cutting the deficit down to 10-6 at the intermission.
With momentum in favor of Drexel, Georgetown’s lead was cut down to 10-7 just 25 seconds into the third quarter after attacker Bea Buckley assisted attacker Annie Madden for the second straight possession. However, just like numerous times this year, the dominant Hoyas defense clamped back down and held the Dragons scoreless for the remainder of the quarter.
Meanwhile, the Hoyas’ offense reasserted their presence. Junior attacker Lauren Steer, junior attacker Anne McGovern, sophomore attacker Sophia Loschert and Driggs each found the back of the net to give the Hoyas a resounding 14-7 advantage heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was all but a punctuation mark on a strong afternoon of lacrosse for the Hoyas. Driggs rifled one in off of a gorgeous find from senior attacker Molly Byrne to push the lead up to 8 before Drexel responded with their eighth and final goal of the contest. Ziegler finished off her hat trick, and sophomore attacker Della Goodman scored her first goal of the season and second of her career to deliver the Hoyas a 17-8 victory.
Goodman was not the only Hoya to reach a personal milestone, as first-year attacker Maia Pronti scored the first 2 goals of her Georgetown career in the first quarter of the contest.
Despite Drexel dominating 17-10 in draw controls, Georgetown made up the lost possessions by forcing 6 caused turnovers and dominating the ground ball battle 15-3. Graduate goalkeeper Leah Warehime, along with the gritty zone defense employed by Head Coach Caitlyn Phipps, has helped power Georgetown into contention both in the Big East and on the national stage.
The Hoyas returned to Cooper Field when they took on Xavier University (2-10, 0-2 Big East) on April 4 at 12 p.m. for their third Big East contest of the year.
