In a flurry of second half goals, the No. 5 Georgetown women’s lacrosse team posted its highest-scoring win of the season yesterday at North Kehoe Field, cruising past No. 9 Penn State, 19-9. The victory extends the Hoyas’ winning streak to five. One game remains in the regular season.
After the Hoyas grabbed the lead in the eighth minute of play, the Nittany Lions managed to stay within three for most of the period. Junior midfielder Gloria Lozano, ranked second in the nation in draw control, gave up an uncharacteristic four straight draws early in the half. The Hoyas also struggled with ground balls against the quick and agile Penn State squad, which senior defender Bethany Feil attributed to “aggressive, physical and a little sloppy” play on both ends of the field.
“I always tell the team that draws and groundballs are more important statistics than goals and saves,” said Head Coach Kim Simons. “Early on, we let [Penn State] get some easy goals off … but in the second half we got all the big draws and really controlled the ball.”
Georgetown entered the second half with a 9-5 lead and traded goals with Penn State for the first ten minutes of the period. A little over a minute off the bench, sophomore attack Hollis Pica snatched a ground ball, stumbling under the stifling defense before passing it off to junior attack Anouk Peters. Peters sprinted to the eight-meter arc and flicked the ball to Lozano, who tucked it in behind Penn State goalie sophomore Lee Tortorelli, extending the Hoyas’ lead to 12-8 and igniting the Georgetown sideline.
After Penn State first-year midfielder Shari Maslin found the back of the Georgetown net to bring the score to13-8, the Hoyas were beginning to look weary from the frenetic pace. Pica stepped in again, dashing to the Nittany Lion’s cage and finding the net while her teammates cheered wildly.
“One play can turn around a game,” said Pica. “There was positive energy all over the field and a feeling of all-around confidence. We knew that this game was very important for the rest of our season.”
“Hollis got in at a key point because she’s been doing so well in practice,” added Simons. “She’s been fighting and scrapping and that’s how she came up with the goal today.”
With two minutes left in the game and a commanding 18-9 lead, most of Georgetown’s jubilant starters left the field, leaving first-year attack Lucy Poole to seal the victory with a final goal.
Georgetown’s last game was a 16-15 overtime victory over Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., where All-American Stanwick scored 9 goals in what was otherwise a lackluster offensive performance for the Hoyas. Despite Stanwick’s phenomenal performance, a Big East record for scoring in a single game, Georgetown barely squeaked by Notre Dame’s late overtime rally.
While Stanwick followed up with an impressive three goals and three assists yesterday, the Georgetown offense was far less reliant on her. Ten Hoyas had goals and six had assists against Penn State, with Lozano’s four goals and one assist leading all scorers in the contest.
“The team responded to the fact that one player won the last game for us,” said Simons. “[The scoring] was very spread out today. When we have a balanced effort, this team is very hard to beat.”
Georgetown’s defense also turned it up in the second half, holding the Nittany Lions to four goals to the Hoyas’ ten and forcing a series of turnovers that led to quick successive goals by senior midfielder Liz Ryan and senior attack Wick Stanwick late in the period.
“The defense started off slow-we didn’t execute the coaches’ game plan until a few minutes before the end of the first half,” said Feil. “[In the second half] we were putting more pressure on the ball and talking to each other more.”
Georgetown’s final game of the regular season will be against Big East contender Connecticut (7-6 overall, 1-3 Big East) at home on April 27. As the Hoyas look ahead to the NCAA tournament, where they have lost in the championship game the past two years, Simons stressed the importance of beating Connecticut and wining the Big East conference.
“We’ve got some unfinished business to take care of,” she said. “We need another great team effort because that’s what we’ll need to win the NCAA tournament.”
