In its final regular season game, the Georgetown field hockey team triumphed over Bucknell, 4-2, breaking the school record for most wins in a season with a 13-5 record.
The matchup was clearly in the Hoyas’ favor from the outset, as sophomore forward Hilary Polk-Williams scored first at 18:13. The unassisted goal was her sixth of the season.
Freshman midfielder Elena Elster scored next at 32:32. Elster netted a penalty corner, assisted by freshman forward Leeanne Rizzo and junior midfielder Aubrey Bruggeman. The goal, Elster’s 21st on the season, left the halftime score at 2-0.
Early in the second half, senior midfielder Jessica Walls scored the first goal of her career at 40:28. Bruggeman added another goal six minutes later to put the Hoyas up 4-0.
The Bison finally got on the board at 48:31 on a penalty corner, and scored again at 68:32 for the final goal of the game.
Georgetown goalkeepers sophomore Jessica Herring and freshman eg Ryan tallied two saves and gave up one goal apiece. The Hoyas had 28 shots on goal while the Bison had 15.
“We improved a lot from the last game. “We really demonstrated an excellent passing game. Our possession skills were excellent today. Having confidence in our passing game gave us the confidence to score,” Head Coach Laurie Carroll said.
Carroll attributed much of the team’s success to the leadership provided by the three senior captains of the team, Walls and midfielders Sarah Oglesby and Caitlin McLean. Even though they were each injured at one time another, Carroll commented that they were able to act like additional assistant coaches on the sidelines and “turn adversity into a blessing.”
Individually, Carroll said the team will miss something about each of them.
“Caitlin always demonstrates tremendous effort. She ignites people with her work ethic,” Carroll said. “Sarah Oglseby is a great leader and has excellent skills. She does a great job of bringing the best out of her teammates.”
“Jess is a key person on the defensive end, but she also loves to go up on attack. Her scoring today was the icing on the cake,” Carroll said.
The team hopes to gain an at-large bid to the Eastern Coast Athletic Conference tournament. The Hoyas will learn their postseason fate within the next two weeks.
“We’re going to prepare as if we’re going to be there. We feel we belong to be there,” Carroll said.
In preparation for the tournament, the team will keep working on fundamentals and not change their game plan.
“We just need to stay the course and keep doing the simple things well,” Carroll said.