GU Bests Bucknell

By Julie Wood • April 6, 2001

Hoya File Photo Scott Schroeder (in action last year) has continued his solid play in 2001.

Georgetown men’s lacrosse head coach Dave Urick usually tries to avoid scheduling games on Sunday and Wednesday of the same week. But after suffering their first loss of the season to No. 12 Navy on Sunday, No. 8 Georgetown wanted to face No. 9 Bucknell as soon as possible to redeem itself.

Mission accomplished.

Senior midfielder Scott Doyle scored four goals and junior goalkeeper Scott Schroeder made 13 saves to lead the visiting Hoyas to a 13-6 victory over the Herd in Lewisburg, Pa.

The Hoyas (7-1 overall, 2-1 ECAC) scored five straight goals in the first quarter to get out to an early lead. Doyle scored three and senior midfielder Keith Baker and senior attack Jamie Sharpe added a goal apiece. The last goal of the quarter came with two and a half minutes left when Bucknell was called for a penalty, putting the Hoyas on extra man offense and allowing Doyle to score his third goal of the day.

“We got off to a good start, which was something we wanted to do. We got up 5-0, and we were doing some pretty good things, so that seemed to set the tone for us,” Urick said.

As the second quarter opened, however, Bucknell proved it wasn’t done yet. Herd sophomore attack Dennis Geraghty scored two unassisted goals in eight seconds, and sophomore attack Kelly Hogue scored again to cut the Hoyas’ lead to 5-3.

But Georgetown retaliated with a goal each from junior middie Steve Dusseau and freshman attack Neal Goldman within 40 seconds of each other, making it 7-3.

The Herd looked to Geraghty’s stick once again to get them one more goal, but Doyle neutralized Bucknell’s effort with his fourth goal of the game, again on extra-man offense. The score at halftime was 8-4.

“At halftime we felt like we had the tempo of the game going the way we wanted,” Urick said.

The third quarter saw an offensive lapse for both squads, as no goals were scored.

“The third quarter was not a good lacrosse quarter on either side. It was a little bit of a lull,” Urick said.

Bucknell started the fourth quarter with a goal, but the Hoyas extinguished any of the Herd’s remaining hopes for a win by scoring five straight goals. Sophomore attack Mike Hammer started the run, Dusseau scored twice, and freshman attack Mike Boynton and junior attack Doug Staab also got on the board to leave the Herd behind for good, although they did manage to net one more goal with 4 seconds remaining to bring the score to 13-6.

Urick was pleased with the Hoyas’ offensive effort. Ten of their 13 goals were assisted, indicating that they used their offensive possessions well.

“We were facing off well, and that gave us some good possessions,” Urick said. “It was a pretty physical game. Our guys were throwing their bodies around a little bit, which was good to see.”

Doyle’s four-goal performance gives him 16 for the season, second-best on the team. “If anybody epitomized individually what we as a team learned from Navy, it was him. He came out and took some good shots,” Urick said. “He was handling the ball well in traffic, and he played well between the lines.”

The highlight of the Hoyas’ defensive play was junior goalkeeper Scott Schroeder, who had 13 saves and led the Hoyas in ground balls. He has 88 saves and 36 ground balls on the season, the most on the team.

“Our defense continues to play well. [Senior Rodger] Colbert, [junior Mike] Harney, [sophomore Pat] Collins and [sophomore Brant] Gresham all played very well,” Urick said. “I was also very happy with [sophomore defender Kyle Sweeney’s] performance.”

The victory was particularly important to Georgetown after its 11-4 loss to Navy on Sunday.

“We just didn’t play well [against Navy]. It was just one of those things. There weren’t many aspects where we did well.”

The Midshipmen, who started the season 0-3, beat a Georgetown team coming off their most important game of the season to date, a win over then-No. 10 Duke.

“Navy knew that they had to do something to get themselves back in the playoff picture. For them it was a real big game. We didn’t have nearly the intensity that they had,” Urick said.

The Hoyas’ offensive production of four goals was the lowest since a 1996 loss to Loyola (Md).

“We were disappointed. I think you’re more disappointed when you don’t play well and you lose than when you do your best and lose,” Urick said.

The Hoyas next face Stony Brook in a conference game on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Harbin Field.