The Hoyas’ flawless home record was stained this Saturday after a rough defeat at the hands of Big East rival Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish (10-4, 3-1 Big East) led from wire-to-wire as the Hoyas (9-4, 2-2) were unable to get into attacking rhythm until late in the game.

Sophomore attacker Molly Ford blasted in two goals just nine seconds apart in the dying minutes of the game; it was, however, too little too late, and the home team suffered a 10-8 defeat to Notre Dame, who has now won three of its last four encounters with Georgetown.

Head Coach Ricky Fried said his team was unable to replicate the accurate finishing of the early season in this match.

“I think [the loss] had more to do with our shooting than their defense,” he said.

The Hoyas only managed to make 25 percent of their shots during the match, much lower than their average .363 shot percentage.

It was Ford who notched the Hoyas’ first goal in the 10th minute, responding to two early Irish goals. Ford’s shot was the lone score up on the board for the Hoyas for the rest of the first half and a large portion of the second, while Notre Dame cashed in over and over again, until the score stood at a painful 7-1 with just 19:37 remaining on the clock.

It was then that the Hoyas’ 30-minute goal drought came to an end when freshman midfielder Mary Beth Brophy found the back of the net unassisted. Three minutes later, sophomore midfielder Ashby Kaestner’s pass found last match’s hero, junior midfielder Megan Bloomer, and Bloomer rocketed her shot past the Irish goalkeeper for the Hoyas’ third.

Just as Georgetown seemed to have found some momentum, it was quickly interrupted by Notre Dame, who scored two quick goals of their own to regain its six-point lead, taking the score to 9-3.

The Hoyas fought back hard in the last 12 minutes of the game, and the Blue and Gray managed to score five times before the final whistle, compared with a single goal from the guest team. Bloomer notched her second of the night, matched by classmate freshman attacker Allie Hubschmann, while Ford’s last-gasp efforts helped gain her a hat trick.

But when all was over, it simply wasn’t enough.

Georgetown topped Notre Dame statistically with a total of 32 shots in response to the Irish’s 22, while the ground ball (21-20) and draw control (10-10) battles were close. The Fighting Irish did, however, do better in the cage than the Hoyas, with the guest team’s junior goalkeeper Erin Goodman saving 15 shots to Hoya sophomore Caitlin Formby’s 10.

Fried attributed the loss to a lack of intensity within the team. The Blue and Gray, with a tightly packed schedule, are perhaps showing signs of fatigue after a quick-paced start to the season. He said that the team looked flat in practice after their mid-week nail-biter against Virginia.

Fried also pinpointed the slow start to the first half, which enabled the Irish to score seven goals in response to just one from the Hoyas – a major factor in the Blue and Gray’s loss.

“We didn’t execute as well as we would have liked in the first half,” he said. “We played on our heels a bit, and we got behind.”

This is the first time in conference history that the Hoyas have lost more than one game to any opponent. Last year, the Hoyas’ only conference defeat came at the hands of the very same team that defeated them on Saturday.

Fried will be hoping that his girls are able to make amends in tomorrow’s battle against the Terrapins in College Park, Md. Faceoff is set for 8 p.m.

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