If Sara Zorzi, a junior attacker, had been a bit rusty after missing two games, it is unlikely that anyone would have blamed her. If junior attacker Coco Stanwick, Georgetown’s leading scorer, had been unable to elude the No. 7 Notre Dame (10-3, 2-1) defense, fans would have understood.
But the No. 3 Hoyas (9-2, 3-0 Big East) needed a score, and with 38 seconds elapsed in the third overtime period, Zorzi snuck a pass through the Irish’s defense and found Stanwick, who fired a shot past Irish fifth-year goalie Carol Dixon to give the Hoyas an 11-10 victory.
“Overall, we played well,” Head Coach Ricky Fried said. “We played hard. We made some errors that [Notre Dame] capitalized on. They were very competitive and we are happy to come away with a victory.”
Zorzi, who showed no signs of rust after missing two games for personal reasons, agreed. “Whenever we win, we win as a team. This was a good team win,” she said.
“I didn’t have many butterflies,” she added of her return to the field, “I just had fun and made the most of my time in the game.”
Stanwick started the third overtime, a sudden death period, with her eighth draw control of the game and quickly dished the ball to senior defender Stephanie Zodtner. After a Zodtner miss, and subsequent Notre Dame clear, the Hoyas came up with a turnover and got the ball to Zorzi.
Once Zorzi had moved the ball to the 8-meter mark, she was fouled and had the advantage of starting with the defender behind her. Stanwick urged her fellow attacker to dart to the goal and as Stanwick’s defender moved to pick up the streaking Zorzi, Stanwick was left wide open.
After receiving the pass, Stanwick needed just one chance to end the game. The winner gave Stanwick four goals and Zorzi five assists on the afternoon.
“Zorzi had a great game, she made a great pass, and all I had was an easy shot and we got a win,” Stanwick said.
“The goal really came because Coco [Stanwick] communicated,” Zorzi said.
Zorzi, though, played her own important role in the victory.
“The biggest thing [she did],” Fried said, “Was that she was able to find people that were open, and people hit their shots. . She really showed good vision.”
“We really needed [Zorzi], and she had a great game,” Stanwick added.
For the fourth straight game, Saturday’s contest was a battle from start to finish. The Irish scored the game’s first two goals, but senior midfielder Paige Andrews tallied the Hoyas first score with 11:29 to go in the half, and Stanwick added two goals of her own to send the game to halftime with the score knotted at three.
Georgetown opened up a 7-4 lead 10 minutes into the second half – sophomore midfielder Patty Piotrowicz, senior midfielder Lucy Poole, Andrews and senior defender Stephanie Zodtner all scored – but Notre Dame was not without an answer. The Irish scored six of the next seven goals – freshman attacker Jill Byers had two – to take a 10-8 advantage.
Stanwick, on a pass from Zorzi, brought the Hoyas to within one with 6:12 remaining, and freshman midfielder Jordan Trautman tied with the score with just 2:41 left. Neither team was able to mount a strong offensive front in the final two minutes of regulation, and for the third time in four games, Georgetown was headed for overtime.
The Hoyas won the opening draw in the first overtime, but, though they took three shots, could not score. The Irish took the draw in the second overtime, but they also were unable to put the ball in the back of the net. Georgetown took three shots in the second overtime with Notre Dame taking one.
The third overtime, an instant victory period, started off with Stanwick controlling the draw. Georgetown set its offense, and within 38 seconds, it had victory.
In the Hoyas’ last game, one against Boston University, Fried felt as though a lack of hustle was his team’s downfall. Against the Irish, things changed.
“We did a much better job. We had close to 60 percent of draw controls which is something we needed to work on from the BU game. . And, [Notre Dame] did not get a lot of fast breaks,” Fried said.
While Notre Dame did grab 24 ground balls to Georgetown’s 23, Fried attributes that more to the Hoyas just dropping the ball from time to time and less to being outhustled. Georgetown won 14 of 25 draw controls and committed just nine turnovers, as compared to Notre Dame’s 16.
Georgetown followed up the Notre Dame win by posting another victory against No. 4 UVA Wednesday evening.
