On a team with three juniors who are all arguably the Big East’s best at their individual positions – Coco Stanwick on attack, Chloe Asselin at midfield, and Maggie Koch in goal – it is easy for the seniors to sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Saturday, however, under sunny skies at the ulti-Sport Facility, the Hoyas’ four seniors reminded everyone just how important they can be.
Senior midfielder Stephanie Zodtner tied the game as time expired in regulation and Paige Andrews, also a senior midfielder, scored the winning goal in overtime as the No. 4 Hoyas (12-3, 5-0 Big East) escaped with a miraculous 9-8 win over the Loyola Greyhounds (7-8, 3-2).
“It was Senior Day and the seniors got us to overtime and finished it in overtime for us. [There was a] lot of character and lot of heart from our seniors today,” Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried said.
“It could have gone either way,” Loyola Head Coach Kerri O’Day said. “Both teams played really hard, both teams played really well, and it was anyone’s ball game – whoever had the ball at the end.”
Luckily for Fried and the Hoyas, it was the home team that had the ball at the end, if only barely. Tied at seven with just under five minutes left in the second half, Loyola had possession of the ball and set out to hold the ball for one last shot.
It worked nearly to perfection – Georgetown almost forced a turnover with 35.8 second left but Loyola picked up the loose ball – as the Greyhounds’ leading scorer, junior midfielder Kate McHarg executed a picturesque backdoor cut with about seven seconds left and received a perfect pass from senior midfielder and fellow Aussie Talia Shacklock to convert the go-ahead goal.
“We wanted to try and take the last shot,” O’Day said. “We know, obviously, that Georgetown has great shooters, so we wanted to keep the ball in our stick. And it was great that we executed.”
“The game plan was to get it to Kate [McHarg],” Shacklock said. “We just were holding it up as long as we could because we knew they’d start pressuring out. And then, thankfully she was open and we were able to feed it to her and she was able to score off of it.”
That, however, is only half the story. The other half, as Shacklock put it, is, “Unfortunately [the Hoyas] were able to return it with like five seconds left.”
Immediately following the goal, Stanwick won her team the draw and even drew a foul in the process, giving Georgetown the ball at midfield with the clock stopped at 4.7 seconds.
Stanwick passed the ball ahead to the 30-yard line for Zodtner, who promptly sprinted down the right side of the field towards the goal. As the horn prepared to sound, the Georgetown co-captain ripped a shot past freshman goalie Alex Piraino to knot the game at eight.
“I looked at Coco [Stanwick] and was like Coco you are going to win the draw and give it to me and we’re going to score and that’s exactly what happened,” Zodtner said.
After a brief celebration, the game headed into overtime, the fifth of the season and second-straight for the Hoyas.
Georgetown took possession off of a foul on the opening draw but was unable to score on the ensuing possession. With less than 20 seconds remaining in the first half of overtime, Loyola worked the ball deep into Hoyas’ territory, but Zodtner was there for the defensive stop.
In the second period of overtime (all overtime sessions consist of two three-minute periods), Georgetown again won the draw and this time held the ball about as long as possible. With 15 seconds to go, junior attacker Sara Zorzi, from behind the net, found Andrews, who took the pass and put the ball in the back of the net.
“Paige did a really good job at reading the situation,” Zorzi said. “I was on the lower left side of the goal, if you are facing the goal, and I kinda just gave her a little head nod – we communicate well that way – so she just cut right up straight down, same post, same right post and she was able to finish left handed.”
“I don’t love anything more than when Zorzi is behind the net because she is just so good at, if she sees an open stick, she’ll just hit it,” Andrews said. “I just remember the play didn’t work and I saw her giving the head nod and I said, `here we go’ and came off lefty and just got it.”
Get it, she did. With just 13.8 seconds left Loyola was unable to retaliate, giving Georgetown a whirlwind victory on Senior Day. It also locked up the Big East title for the Hoyas and was their 34th consecutive league victory.
“[Loyola is] a strong team, very athletic,” Fried said. “Their record doesn’t indicate how good they are. They played hard, they fought the whole time, and it was a good battle – a good, good conference battle.”
To get to the tense final minutes, Stanwick contributed four goals and an assist, sophomore attacker Schuyler Sutton scored a goal, and sophomore midfielder Patty Piotrowicz found the back of the net. For the Greyhounds, McHarg, sophomore attacker Maura Kenny, and senior midfielder Stephanie Walker all notched two goals on the afternoon.
Through it all, the overwhelming theme for the afternoon – starting with pregame festivities and ending with Andrews’ goal – was the seniors. In addition to Zodtner’s and Andrew’s obvious contributions, senior midfielder Lucy Poole played well on both ends of the field and senior defender Kristin Smith provided a number of important defensive stops.
“It was an emotional day just because it was our last home game,” Zodtner said. “And it was for the Big East, it was emotional and trying to get over those things with discipline and being smart [was tough].”
“It was senior day and we had four seniors take the lead, and they weren’t going to leave here without a win,” Stanwick said. “The emotions I have inside aren’t really describable.”
Stanwick and the Hoyas will have a week to enjoy the victory, but their next challenger, No. 9 Johns Hopkins (11-3, 3-2 American Lacrosse Conference), promises to present a serious challenge.
“Hopkins is going to be again a very tough game,” Fried said. “They are very athletic and they have a superstar in Mary Key. But I think the biggest thing is we are going to have to come out and play with a lot of intensity because they are playing for a playoff birth.”
Georgetown too will be playing for playoff seeding in the NCAA tournament. A win would nearly guarantee the Hoyas – who became the first team in America to officially clinch a postseason spot with Saturday’s win – a top-four seed.
The opening draw is set for 1 p.m. at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Md.