With the backdrop of bright blue skies, melting snow around MultiSport Facility and a raucous crowd of over 2,500, an explosive Hoya offense jumped out to a 10-7 halftime lead, seemingly poised to complete a picture-perfect season-opening victory over visiting Maryland. But the No. 13 Georgetown (0-1) attack went ice cold in the second half, allowing the No. 7 Terps (2-0) to escape with a 15-13 victory.
“The kids played hard – both teams played really hard – we just didn’t take advantage,” Georgetown Coach Dave Urick said. “We lost . a lot of momentum in the second half, and we’ve got to learn from that. We’ve got to be able to regroup and get after it again. We told our guys, `There’s peaks and valleys and we’ve got to play through it.'”
idway through the third quarter, senior midfielder Scott Kocis’ pinpoint pass found junior attack Ryan Shuler alone in front of the cage. Shuler calmly finished for his third goal of the game and an 11-7 advantage, matching the Hoyas’ largest lead of the afternoon.
From there it was all Maryland, as the Terrapins reeled off a 7-0 run over the next 11 minutes to seize control of the game. Terp junior attack Ryan Young, who tallied four of his game-high five assists in the first half to keep Maryland close, scored his lone goal of the game to start the visitors’ second-half run and senior midfielder Will Yeatman scored a hat-trick in the frame to fuel the comeback. The Hoya offense simply disappeared until it was too late to recover.
Like Urick, Kocis spoke of the need to maintain intensity and poise throughout the game.
“We know that there’s going to be peaks and valleys in every game,” Kocis said. “You can’t just come out in the beginning and put up 10 in the first half, and then not show up in the second half.”
Barney Ehrmann completely shut down Yeatman in last year’s 13-10 Georgetown victory, holding him scoreless with only one shot on goal. The senior defender was severely limited by ankle and back injuries on Saturday, however, allowing Yeatman to break out in the second half. Urick said after the game that he expects the injury issues to persist throughout the season for the preseason Big East defensive player of the year, and Ehrmann’s status for Wednesday’s game against Harvard is questionable.
Ehrmann was not the only key Hoya dealing with injury problems. Andrew Brancaccio, the team’s second-leading scorer in 2009, suffered a concussion during the preseason and practiced very little in the build-up to the opener. The senior midfielder made little impact on the game, recording one assist on a first-quarter, extra-man opportunity.
Sophomore goalie C.T. Fisher made his first collegiate start in place of senior Jack Davis, who is recovering from a back injury and is expected to sit Wednesday. Fisher struggled in the first half – as did his Maryland counterpart Brian Phipps, who made four saves on 14 shots on goal – as he stopped three of 10 shots on cage. Davis took some shots at halftime, but Urick stuck by Fisher and was generally pleased with his play.
“I thought C.T. did fine,” Urick said. “It’s a tough position for him. I’m sure . if he looks back at it, there’s going to be a few [goals] that maybe a couple of you thought he should have gotten that he didn’t, but I thought he did fine.”
In the closing minutes of the third quarter, as Georgetown struggled to hold on to an 11-10 lead, Fisher made a fine series of four saves. With just under two minutes remaining and a delayed penalty on Ehrmann, Fisher got down low to make a save before robbing a top-shelf rebound attempt. On the ensuing extra-man opportunity, Fisher stopped an outside shot before denying Young in a two-on-one
fast break to get the Hoyas to the fourth quarter, lead intact.
But then the dam broke in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, as Maryland poured in four quick goals for a 14-11 edge. Junior midfielder Stu Shannon and Kocis each scored to get back within one, but the Terrapins extended the lead back to two with four minutes left and then killed the clock to close the game out.
“I got the sense in the second half, particularly . the fourth quarter, our defense was getting tired,” Urick said. “I thought they were physically wearing down, and I think we’ve got to take a hard, long look at some more people in the game sooner. [Ehrmann, seniors Chris Nixon and Eric Bicknese, and sophomore Dan Hostetler] played almost the whole game. There wasn’t much out there besides them, and we’ve got some other guys we need to get out there.”
Depth on the offensive end does not appear to be such an issue for Georgetown. In addition to Shuler’s hat-trick, senior Ricky Mirabito scored two goals and Craig Dowd added a goal and three assists.
Freshman Travis Comeau tallied two goals and an assist in his debut and has already won Urick’s confidence coming off the bench.
“[Comeau] made good use of the minutes he was in there,” Urick said. “We’ve got four attackmen now that we feel really good about.”
Up next for Georgetown is No. 11 Harvard (1-0), who visits the Hilltop Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. after steamrolling Canisius 16-6 on Saturday. Junior attack Dean Gibbons paced the Crimson with five goals, and the challenges that Harvard presents differs little from those posed by Maryland.
“There’s going to be no time for us to hang our heads and think about this one,” Kocis said following the Maryland loss. “We’re going to learn from this and get ready for the quick turnaround with the Harvard game Wednesday.” “
