Brendan Cannon has experienced a lot on the lacrosse field. The junior attacker has seen – and accomplished – all sorts of individual feats as his Hoyas have won ECAC titles, recorded 10-win seasons and earned bids to the NCAA tournament.
But as senior midfielder Christiaan Trunz won face-off after face-off in Saturday’s 12-8 home victory over Rutgers, Cannon saw something he had never witnessed before.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone play like that. I’ve just never seen anything like that,” Cannon said of Trunz’s dominating 20-of-23 face-off performance. “Christiaan Trunz is what won us the game today.”
The win over Rutgers (5-6, 3-3 ECAC) moved the Hoyas to 10-2 and 6-0 in the ECAC as the squad recorded its 10th-straight 10-win season and clinched its sixth league title in the last eight years. By winning the division, Georgetown earned an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA tournament, which the Hoyas will take part in for the 11th consecutive season.
“Just being in the tournament isn’t quite the end all, but to advance and win it you need to get in it,” Head Coach Dave Urick said.
After winning 14-of-22 face-offs in last year’s 9-8 win over Rutgers, Trunz said he knew he would need a big performance to help the Hoyas win. He won 10-of-12 face-offs in the second half to propel the Hoyas’ comeback from a 6-3 halftime deficit.
“We practiced all week with our wing guys. I’ve got awesome athletes on either side of me,” Trunz said.
Trunz kept a sluggish Georgetown team afloat in the first half, winning the game’s first 10 face-offs, as the Hoyas stumbled into halftime down three goals.
Alone in front of the net with 2:49 remaining in the first quarter, freshman midfielder Andrew Brancaccio placed an easy goal past Rutgers’ freshman goaltender Bill Olin to tie the game at three. But the Hoyas’ next score would not come for another 22:10.
Olin stopped eight shots in the first half en route to a career-high 18 saves, while Georgetown turned the ball over seven times.
“In the first half it was pretty obvious what we were doing wrong,” Cannon said. “We weren’t moving our feet . and we were throwing some lazy passes.”
The Hoyas’ usually-stout defense struggled to contain the Scarlet Knights in the first half as Rutgers got open looks in front of the goal and junior goaltender Miles Kass made only one save.
“We sensed during the week that there was something a little bit missing during our preparation,” Urick said. “I think part of it is that exams are right around the corner, and I think part of it is just at some point in the season you’re not going to bring your best stuff.”
Cannon said that at halftime, Urick instructed his squad to be patient on offense.
Hoya File Photo /The Hoya
“No one was nervous at halftime,” Cannon said. “We were just a little frustrated.”
Cannon ended the scoring drought five minutes into the half with a man-up goal, and the Hoyas would own the third quarter, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 4-0. Georgetown took the lead for the first time with less than one second remaining in the third quarter.
With 4.2 seconds showing on the clock, freshman attacker Craig Dowd in-bounded the ball from behind the Rutgers goal to a cutting sophomore attacker Jake Samperton, who buried a shot with 0.6 seconds left.
Though they only attempted 16 shots in the first half, the Hoyas’ fired 29 in the second and recorded a season-high nine second-half goals. Kass and the defense returned to form as the keeper made six saves and allowed only two Rutgers’ scores in the second half.
“These kids aren’t perfect but they scrap pretty hard. You’re not always going to bring your best effort for 60 minutes,” Urick said. “And you can’t underestimate what Christiaan Trunz’s effort was.”
Clinching a bid to the tournament may not seem like a big accomplishment for a team that makes it year in and year out like the Hoyas, but tournament seeds will be hard to come by this season for perennial powers. With a 9-7 loss on Saturday to Massachusetts, Syracuse will not be in the tournament for the first time in 32 years.
Georgetown will play host to Penn State (5-7, 3-3 ECAC) in the final regular season game of the year on Saturday. Last season, the Hoyas needed to come back from four goals down and scored twice in the final minute to upend the Nittany Lions, 10-9.
Penn State boasts one of the conference’s best goalies in sophomore Drew Adams. Adams has a goals against average of 7.68 and a save percentage of 60.9, statistics that rank him third and first in the conference in the respective categories.
Urick said that his squad will look for a strong performance against the Nittany Lions to position themselves for a good seed and the possibility of playing at home in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The No.4 Hoyas are in position for a high seed in the tournament but have not advanced past the quarterfinal round in eight years. Tournament seeds will be announced on Sunday.
“To be honest, it’s my last year here and we’re kind of sick and tired of us not getting enough respect, especially coming into the playoffs,” Trunz said. “We’ve got a tough opponent in Penn State coming up next week. We’ve got to come out firing and try to get to 11-2.”
Face-off is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Multi-Sport Facility.
