On Saturday, the No. 9 Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (7-2, 2-0 Big East) will face No. 15 Loyola (5-5, 2-0 Big East) — the defending Big East champions — in what promises to be a very intense and evenly contested matchup.

Both Georgetown and Loyola have defeated Louisville and Cincinnati in the past two weeks. Georgetown downed Cincy 21-3 on March 22, and two days later, Loyola beat them 19-0; the Greyhounds then beat the Cardinals 11-6, while the Hoyas topped them 14-11.

Look at those very similar scorelines, and one thing becomes clear: Saturday’s game is likely to be as tight as they come.

Such was the case last year; the teams were on par with each other, as evidenced by a15-14 Loyola victory in overtime last March. Even though past results are often faulty prognostications of future outcomes, Head Coach Ricky Fried foresees a close game.

“Each team is different from year to year. [Loyola] lost a lot of defenders but [has] a lot of attackers back,” Fried said. “I think we’re pretty evenly matched teams. I think that they have an edge probably in some spots and we have en edge in some spots. It’s going to be a matter of who plays their game.”

Playing the defending Big East champs could be daunting for poorly disciplined teams, but the Hoyasknow that they cannot play their opponent’s game if they want to win. It is this focus on making sure the team plays to its potential that has helped the Blue and Gray have such a successful season thus far.

With only two losses on the season, Georgetown has every reason to feel optimistic going into Saturday’s game.

“We should have plenty of confidence right now, being 7-2 and having some of the wins that we’ve had against ranked opponents and quality teams,” Fried said.

Sophomore attack Caroline Tarzian also likes the Hoyas’ chances because of the areas on which the team has been focusing during practice.

“We have been working on shooting a ton this year, and our shooting percentage has been higher in these games. We’ve been working on faceoffs, too. Kelyn [Freedman] and Kelsey [Perselay] have been doing an awesome job with it,” Tarzian said. “Those are two main factors that have been the cause of our success this season.”

In Tarzian’s case especially, it is obvious that all of the shooting practice has been paying off. Tarzian ranks fourth in the Big East in goals per game with 2.67 and notched her third five-goal game of the season against Louisville. Last week, she was also named to the Big East weekly honor roll for the third time this season, an accolade she appreciates but never expects.

“It’s really exciting,” Tarzian said. “Honestly, every single time it is a surprise because there’s a ton of really good players in our conference, so it’s a really great honor.”

Another big performance from Tarzian could help the Hoyas notch their third Big East win this Saturday, but Fried insists that his team is staying grounded.

“Right now, we’re playing really well as a team. If we continue to do that and focus on paying attention to the details, then we are going to end up where we need to end up,” Fried said. “We’ve had a little bit of a break and so we should go in fresh and excited and hungry, and if we do that, I think it will bode very well for us.”

The Blue and Gray hope that means they will end up as the Big East tournament champs, earning them a berth to the NCAA tournament. For now however, they are focusing on one game at a time.

Opening faceoff against Loyola will be in Baltimore at noon on Saturday.