In a high-scoring affair, the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team triumphed 18-11 over conference rival Vanderbilt on Saturday. With the win, Georgetown remains tied for second in the Big East standings.
“We played pretty well on both ends of the field. The ball movement on the offense was really key, and at the end of the day, the draw controls in the second half really picked us up,” Georgetown Head Coach Rickey Fried said.
The Hoyas (6-7, 4-1 Big East) held an 18-13 advantage over the Commodores (6-5, 3-2 Big East) in draw controls, which Fried noted the importance of in controlling the flow of the game.
“We were also pretty resilient,” Fried said. “When we made mistakes we didn’t give up goals in the second half. We were able to come up with a stop and a clear and then another positive possession on our end.”
Vanderbilt opened scoring just two minutes into the game before Georgetown answered with two back-to-back goals three minutes later. At the 25-minute mark, Vanderbilt began a 3-0 run to take a 4-2 lead. Georgetown answered with its own 3-0 run just a minute later.
After the sixth Hoya goal, Vanderbilt changed goalkeepers. The replacement, redshirt freshman Lily Argyle, gave a strong performance after freshman Madison Foglio — who had one save and allowed six goals in just 12 minutes — stepped off. Argyle had nine saves and allowed 12 goals the rest of the game.
The Georgetown offense, however, was relentless, outshooting Vanderbilt 39-24. After trading a pair of goals, the Hoyas went on a 3-0 run to close the half with a 9-6 lead.
Fried said that the Hoyas made a small adjustment when Vanderbilt changed goalkeepers but focused more on playing their own game.
“We told them in the second half we need to shoot to the net better, and they made that adjustment,” Fried said. “It doesn’t really matter who the goalie is; it’s about what we’re doing shooting-wise.”
In the second half, the Hoyas maintained at least a two-goal lead, with the two teams trading two and three goal runs. With seven minutes left in the game and the score 14-10, sophomore attack Morgan Ryan began the 4-0 run that would bury Vanderbilt by flipping the ball backward over her shoulder.
“On that, me and my player were both trying to go for that ground ball, and once it was loose in the air, I just tried to kind of bat it down. It went over the goalie’s head and I was like, alright, I’ll take it,” Ryan said.
A total of ten different Hoyas scored on Saturday, showcasing the team’s depth. Sophomore attack Taylor Gebhardt and Ryan led the Hoyas with four and three goals, respectively. Freshman attack Emily Ehle and sophomore midfielder Francesca Whitehurst had two each. Freshman midfielder Natalia Lynch, senior midfielder Kate Snouffer, junior midfielder Hannah Seibel, junior midfielder Georgia Tunney and junior midfielder Rachel Rausa all scored one goal each.
“It was just playing offensively as a unit. When we move the ball quickly and find the two-versus-ones on the backside, that’s where a lot of goals came from. So, playing as a unit finally on the offense was the success for the team today,” Ryan said.
Defensively, senior goalie Maddie Fisher had two saves and allowed nine goals in 39 minutes. Sophomore goalie Haelle Chomo had three saves and allowed two goals in nearly 21 minutes.
Georgetown’s next game is home against Cincinnati (5-8, 1-4 Big East) on Wednesday. With four remaining games — including two against No. 13 Denver (10-2, 4-1 Big East) and No. 3 Florida (11-2, 5-0 Big East) — and the top four teams advancing to the Big East Championship in May, each win is crucial for the Hoyas.
Coach Fried said that to transfer the intense energy from Saturday to Wednesday, the team has to remember to do the little things right.
“It’s just a matter of recognizing what we’re doing well, and we corrected a lot of mistakes today,” Fried said. “We’ve got to make sure that we continue to focus on getting better and not take this win for granted, but enjoy it and make sure that we continue do the things that made us successful today — and they were a lot of little things, not anything spectacular.”
