It may have been cold outside, but Sunday afternoon the Georgetown women’s lacrosse team was sizzling hot.
It took just a single half for Georgetown women’s lacrosse to show people why they are so highly regarded, as the Hoyas visited Mount St. Mary’s. Georgetown (1-0) jumped out to an 8-2 first half lead over the Mount (0-3, ultimately winning 15-2 in their 2006 season opener.
Georgetown needed just 3:13 to score its first goal of the year, as standout junior attacker Coco Stanwick, fittingly, took a pass from junior attacker Schuyler Sutton, who started her first collegiate game, and put it past the Mount’s goalkeeper. Though she scored just one other first-half goal, the Big East preseason offensive player of the year netted an astounding six more goals on the afternoon.
Just 14 seconds later, sophomore midfielder Patty Piotrowicz set up freshman Jordan Trautman for her first collegiate goal, and the Hoyas went up 2-0.
Georgetown didn’t look back from there, and though it allowed a goal to Mount St. Mary’s junior attacker Casey Paris at the 20:08 mark, they went into the locker room at halftime with a comfortable, six-goal lead. For the Hoyas, senior defender Stephanie Zodtner, senior midfielder Lucy Poole, Sutton (twice), Stanwick and sophomore midfielder Zan Morley capped the first half scoring.
The second half was, plain and simple, the Coco show. Stanwick scored six times, including 3:37 into the half and with :04 remaining the game. Georgetown’s senior midfielder Paige Andrews scored the only goal, for either team, that did not come from Stanwick’s stick. Five of Stanwick’s second half goals were assisted – twice by Piotrowicz – while one was a breakaway goal without an assist.
On the afternoon, Stanwick, who scored 59 goals in 2005, scored eight goals on just 14 shots, caused five turnovers, picked up six ground balls, and controlled nine draws.
“It was one of the best scoring lines I’ve ever seen,” Head Coach Ricky Fried said. “She steps up, regardless of the [situation]. She is always willing to help.”
To say that Stanwick “helped” is more than an understatement. Junior goalie Maggie Koch echoed Fried’s sentiments, commenting, “She had an awesome game. She had the eight goals and a tone of draw controls. She is just one of the best attackers.”
Stanwick, however, was modest about her performance. “All the credit goes to my teammates,” she said. “I had the easy job, they got me the ball, and I just put it in the back of the net.”
In addition to Koch, who stopped four of the six shots that came her way, the rest of the Georgetown defensive corps were lauded by Fried, Koch, and Stanwick.
“I thought the [defense] was great,” said Koch. “The defense and the midfield both forces a lot of turnovers, the defense forced [Mount St. Mary’s] to drop the ball a lot.”
Piotrowicz was one of those midfielders that had a particularly good game, as she notched three assists and picked up two ground balls.
“Patty had a very good game,” Fried said. “She had the three assists, she was strong between the lines, she caused turnovers and she covered ground balls. She was relentless on the offensive end.”
Stephanie Zodtner, a senior defender/midfielder, added a goal, an assist and great defense for the Hoyas. Fried was optimistic about her continued improvement at the midfield spot, a position to which she is entirely new.
“The defense and goalkeeping were very, very good,” Fried said. “We held them to nine total shots, and there were probably only five or six possessions where [Mount St. ary’s] really controlled the ball.”
Though the win was lopsided, its importance was not missed by the Hoyas. “It’s important to come in with a strong start to the season,” Stanwick said. “It gives a lot of confidence to the team to have such a decisive win. … It was a huge team effort.”
Additionally, Fried keyed upon the fact that Georgetown boasted five women making their first collegiate start, and that the entire team played, as signs that the game was a valuable learning experience for the Hoyas.
Next on tap for Georgetown is a cross country trip to Oregon. On ar. 5 Georgetown will oppose the Oregon Ducks, a program in only its second year. Both Stanwick and Fried emphasize that while the Hoyas should possess a decided edge in terms of talent, the unfamiliar atmosphere should make the game a good test.
“We need to take care of the game first and not focus on the travel and what is going on outside of the game,” Fried said.
“It’ll be an intense situation. [Playing on the west coast] is always a different atmosphere. It’ll be a great test to see how we deal with some adversity,” Stanwick remarked.
What’s more, Georgetown will need to treat the game at Oregon as their final tune-up before they oppose Big East rival Syracuse on Saturday, March. 11.
The game against Oregon is set to start at 4 p.m. EST, while their contest with the Orange will start at 1 p.m.