Coming into the weekend, the Georgetown’s women’s lacrosse team was riding its first winning streak of the season and put its perfect conference record on the line on the road against Cincinnati and Louisville. The No. 14 Hoyas (7-5, 5-0 Big East) took care of business, thrashing the Bearcats 21-8 and jumping out to a huge halftime lead on Sunday against the Cardinals before winning 17-13. Since dropping an overtime heartbreaker to then-No. 19 Princeton, Georgetown has ripped off a four-game winning streak and possesses the only unblemished record in the conference.
Cincinnati (4-6, 0-3 Big East) had been struggling all year, and Head Coach Ricky Fried’s team did not want to be the reason for a Bearcat turnaround. By the nine-minute mark, the Blue and Gray had jumped out to a 7-1 lead with senior Sarah Seats leading the way with two goals and two assists. Cincinnati sophomore Laura Simanski pulled the hosts back within five with a goal a few minutes later, but the visiting Hoyas quickly squashed any notions of a comeback with a 6-0 run that featured six different goalscorers, including sophomore Kelly Barnes’ second of the game.
The Bearcats would score three of the last four goals of the half, but were still down 14-3 at the break. Unfortunately for them, however, it took the Blue and Gray only 39 seconds to get their 15th goal, this time courtesy of freshman Sophia Thomas. When Cincinnati scored its first goal of the second half over 10 minutes later, Georgetown was up 18-5 and was content to trade scores the rest of the way, as freshman attacker Dina Jackson finished off her first career hat-trick with 27 seconds left, providing the final tally in the 21-8 victory.
The road-tripping Blue and Gray began their game against Louisville the same way they began the previous one. Three goals apiece from senior Ashby Kaestner and junior Jordyn Kirr paced the Georgetown attack early on, staking the visitors to an early lead for the second consecutive game. The Hoyas’ defense stayed strong as well, never allowing the Cardinals to build up any momentum by scoring consecutive goals. Two goals each from Thomas and senior Molly Ford led the Georgetown attack as the visitors took a 15-6 lead into halftime.
At the start of the second half the Hoyas sandwiched scores from juniors Mary Beth Brophy and Jacqueline Giles around a Louisville goal, giving the Blue and Gray a 17-7 lead with just over 27 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately for the visitors, Giles’ shot proved to be the last one to find its way into the back of the net. Fortunately for the Hoyas, though, they had built such a large lead and had possession for enough of the remainder of the game to keep the surging Cardinals at bay.
Louisville junior Bergan Foley cut the lead to four on a free position shot with 5:55 left, but the Georgetown defense tightened up and nothing found its way past senior goalie Caitlin Formby for the rest of the game.
The Hoyas’ success for the rest of the year depends largely on whether they can continue the form that saw them rout Cincinnati and blow Louisville away for a half. With three conference games remaining, most notably against Loyola and rival Syracuse, the Blue and Gray can ill afford to suffer from dry spells like they did against the Cardinals.
Georgetown returns home to face conference opponent Rutgers on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the MultiSport Facility.
