It’s hard to score when you don’t have the ball.
Saturday at Storrs, Conn. the No. 3 Hoyas showed the Connecticut Huskies exactly that, as Georgetown (11-2, 4-0), led by junior attacker Coco Stanwick’s 11, won 17 of 22 draw controls and came away with a not-as-close-as-it-looks 12-8 victory over UConn (4-10, 0-5).
“I don’t even know how to measure the advantage [Stanwick] gives us on the draw,” Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried said. “She gives us opportunities to score and limits the other team’s opportunities.”
“I think the game went really well,” Stanwick said. “It was pretty bad weather, but [Connecticut is] a Big East opponent and they came out strong. We overcame some obstacles, including the weather, and got a good win.”
Stanwick, whose 93 draw controls have already eclipsed the Georgetown single-season record of 81 set by Gloria Lozano (SFS ’04) in 2003, also had four goals and two assists, and senior midfielders Lucy Poole (three goals) and Paige Andrews (two goals and an assist) each registered three points to earn the Hoyas their 33rd straight Big East win.
Though Georgetown started slow – the teams were tied at three with 27 seconds left in the first half – but turned it on at the very end of the first half and in the beginning of the second and was simply too strong for Connecticut.
With 27 ticks to go, freshman midfielder Courtney Hubschman took a feed from senior defender Stephanie Zodtner and ripped a shot past Huskies goalie Kristen Haldeman to take a 4-3 lead going into halftime.
The Hoyas carried that momentum into the second half as Poole scored the half’s first goal just 2:34 seconds into the period and Stanwick scored less than three minutes later to up Georgetown’s lead to three. Over the next six minutes, Poole, Zodtner, Stanwick and sophomore midfielder Zan Morley all found the back of the net. In just over 12 minutes, the Hoyas had jumped out to a 10-3 lead.
“We were more focused,” Fried said of his team’s 7-0 run. “We executed exactly what we tried to do.”
Connecticut, however, was not willing to go down without a fight. Shannon Burke scored on a free position shot halfway through the period, and the Huskies scored two more times in the next three minutes as they battled back to within four. Andrews scored Georgetown’s 11th goal with 10 minutes to go, but Connecticut answered once again as Laura Trzasko took a feed from Janet Williams to again close the gap.
That is as close as the Huskies would come, though, as Poole completed her hat trick with 2:38 remaining to give the Hoyas a 12-7 lead. Trzasko completed a hat trick of her own with 1:27 left, but by that point the outcome was no longer in doubt.
Stanwick’s 11 draw controls upped her nation’s-best average to 7.2 per game. According to Stanwick, however, her success is mostly because of her teammates.
“I am pretty successful on the draw thanks to my teammates, because they box out and do the hard work,” she said.
Ground balls and turnovers were a big reason why Connecticut was able to come back. Georgetown committed one less turnover than Connecticut, but the Huskies captured one more ground ball than the Hoyas, 12-11. For Georgetown, it was the second straight game in which the “hustle categories” prevented it from winning by a margin more convincing than four. Those mistakes were not for of a lack of trying, according to Fried.
“The effort was there the whole game,” Fried said. “We were playing hard, fighting and scrapping for loose balls. What was lacking was some of the mental focus.”
Though she allowed junior goalie Maggie Koch’s fault, the nation’s leader in goals-against average, made 10 saves and remained rock solid for Georgetown.
“Maggie played well,” Fried said. “The defense was strong as a team. When [Maggie] plays well, she gives the defense confidence, and when the defense plays well, it gives aggie confidence.”
“She was the anchor,” Stanwick added.
Now winners of three in a row and seven of eight, the Hoyas head to Harrisburg, Va., on Wednesday for a date with No. 16 James adison University (11-4, 6-1 Colonial Athletic Association).
“James Madison is a quality opponent,” Fried said. “It is a traditional lacrosse power and it is a big game for them because they are preparing for their conference tournament. We need to make sure we are focused and ready and [we need to] make them match our intensity.”
The opening draw is set for 4 p.m.
