Hoyas Down Duke

By Julie Wood

Hoya File Photo Senior attackman Mike Henehan (shown in action last season) continued to shine for Georgetown with a goal against Duke. In an intense battle with big implications, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team supplied even more proof of how far it has come in the past two years and how far it will go this season, overcoming No. 10 Duke 14-7.

With impenetrable defense and strong offensive possessions, the No. 3 Hoyas extended their home wining streak to 14 games and avenged their last home loss, which came at the hands of Duke in 1999. Georgetown and Duke have shared quite a rivalry in recent years. The Hoyas lost to the Blue Devils in both the 1999 and 2000 regular seasons by scores of 10-8 and 13-12, respectively. The Hoyas did manage to upend the Devils during the quarterfinals of the 1999 NCAA tournament, winning another tight game 17-14.

Duke got out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal less than three minutes into the game, but the Hoyas gained a lead they would never relinquish by scoring five unanswered goals.

The Hoyas had several long possessions during which they worked the ball around the goal, testing out the Duke defense.

“We were trying to see how they were going to play defense against us. They’re a team that plays a little different defense than a lot of teams. They take a lot of pride in their individual defense and not sliding out early,” Head Coach Dave Urick said.

The Hoyas’ patient offense resulted in senior attackman Jamie Sharpe igniting the five-goal run with a score at 6 minutes and 32 seconds, assisted by sophomore midfielder P.J. Paulisso. In the second quarter, sophomore midfielder Trevor Walker, who had his first career hat trick on the day, scored the next two goals within 45 seconds of each other to put the Hoyas up 3-1. The lead was furthered by junior midfielder Steve Dusseau and senior midfielder Scott Doyle, who added the next two goals.

Duke then scored its only extra-man offense goal of the day with three minutes to go in the half. The Hoyas got one more goal before the break, when Dusseau scored his second goal of the day to make the score 6-2. Duke would come no closer than four goals for the remainder of the day.

All the meetings between Duke and Georgetown have been marked by extremely competitive, physical and intense play, and Sunday’s game was no exception. Play heated up in the third quarter, with Duke and Georgetown trading goals back and forth. A few minutes into the period, the referees blew the whistle for an out-of-bounds ball. Several seconds after play was stopped, Duke senior midfielder Hunter Henry ran full-speed into Hoya senior defenseman and tri-captain Rodger Colbert, knocking him to the ground directly in front of the Georgetown bench. Both teams got physical, and Colbert was physically restrained by Assistant Coach Brian Rodgers. Penalties were assessed to both teams.

“It’s a big game. It’s Duke vs. Georegtown. It’s an intense rivalry,” Colbert said.

“We told the kids before the game that we have to play intense, but we also have to play with some poise and put some thought behind what we’re doing. There were moments where I think we lost some of that, but for the most part we were able to hold that together,” Urick said. “The Duke game for us has always been that type of game, and we don’t shy away from it, that’s for sure.”

The Hoyas harnessed their energy in the second half and channeled it into eight more goals to Duke’s five. Freshman attackman Neal Goldman scored twice for the Hoyas, senior attackman ike Henehan scored once and Walker and Dusseau each completed his hat trick with one more goal. Dusseau also added two assists in the second half to get three for the game.

“Dusseau is an All-American caliber player, and I think he showed why. I was really impressed with what Steve did today. He was a handful for whoever they put on him, long stick or short stick,” Urick said.

Although the Hoyas’ offense was certainly impressive, their defense was what won the game for them. It was the sixth straight game in which the Hoyas have held their opponent to less than nine goals. Freshman defenseman Kyle Sweeney took away many of Duke’s offensive opportunities. He had six takeaways in the game. Junior goaltender Scott Schroeder protected the net very well, making 17 saves on 39 shots.

“[Schroeder] sees a lot of shots per game, and he comes up big. A lot of times he doesn’t get a lot of credit in the lacrosse world, but I’ll tell you that he’s one of the best out there,” Dusseau said. “And it doesn’t hurt having one of the best college defenses out there with him.”

The Hoyas have the advantage of having a very deep bench, especially on the defensive end. They play two lines of defensemen, allowing them to rotate fresh legs onto the field as often as possible, and Colbert cited work in the weight room as also being helpful to the squad.

“We have numbers, and we have athletes,” Colbert said.

The team also seems to be using better judgment on defense.

“We’re doing a lot better job this year of not committing ourselves defensively when we don’t need to or unnecessarily. We’re not sliding up-field as much and putting ourselves in a position where we let teams get layups on us, and that’s made a world of difference,” Urick said.

“It was a defensive battle, and offensively we just ended up putting it together and closing them out,” Dusseau said.

The Hoyas will travel to face ECAC opponent No. 20 Navy at 1 p.m. on Sunday.