The Georgetown men’s lacrosse team defeated ninth-ranked Delaware (7-1), the team’s third consecutive victory and second straight win versus a top-ten opponent. The Hoyas (3-1 overall, 1-0 ECAC) cruised to an 11-5 victory, as over 1,000 fans showed their support at the Multi-Sport Field yesterday afternoon.
Senior midfielder Dave Paolisso continued his offensive hot streak, sparking the Hoya offense with three goals and an assist.
Just five days earlier, Paolisso lit up the Syracuse defense for a hat trick, earning him Eastern College Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. At the other end of the field, Georgetown’s close defensemen disrupted Delaware’s offensive sets, holding the Blue Hens to 10 shots on goal.
Georgetown dominated the first quarter of play as sophomore midfielder Christian Trunz controlled the face-offs. Trunz went toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s premier face-off specialists in Delaware junior Alex Smith, winning 4 out of 5 face-offs in the first quarter and 8 of 20 on the afternoon as a whole.
“We thought if we could just get groundballs out of (the faceoffs) and not give them clean opportunities, we would win our fair share,” Trunz said. “Smith is the best faceoff man in the country.”
The Hoyas also dominated first quarter groundballs, scooping up 13 to the Blue Hens 4. By maintaining possession, the Hoyas quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Sophomore middie Scott Kahoe opened up the scoring with an unassisted rip past Delaware sophomore goalie Tommy Scherr. Winner of the ECAC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against St. John’s, junior long-pole Jerry Lambe supplied several take-away checks to stifle the Blue Hen offensive efforts.
Georgetown went into the half with a comfortable 6-1 lead, as the Hoyas continued to dominate the battle for ground balls and kept penalty minutes to a minimum. Delaware freshman Chris Hichborn came up with the lone University of Delaware goal before the half, when a sloppy situation in front of the Georgetown net allowed the attackman to poke in a loose ground ball.
However, the Hoyas answered with a goal of their own 53 seconds before halftime, as sophomore attacker Brendan Cannon snuck by his defender and beat the keeper while diving across the crease, extending his streak of multiple-point games to 10.
Although the Hoyas held a seven-point advantage midway through the third quarter, Delaware was determined to prove they deserved to be ranked as one of the top ten teams in the country. Standout Blue Hen Alex Smith regained the upper hand in the face-off circle, while his teammates picked up the hustle, snagging 22 groundballs to Georgetown’s 15 in the second half of play.
The momentum nearly shifted in the Blue Hens’ favor with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter. Senior midfielder Pete Cannon unloaded for his second goal of the afternoon with a hard dodge and powerful blast into the back of the Delaware net. Six seconds later, the Blue Hens’ Smith created his own fast break and supplied the assist to bring the score to a reasonable 8-2.
Although the Hoyas played most of the game with two longpoles on the wing during face-offs, Smith was immediately able to create another opportunity, but the Delaware attackmen failed to capitalize.
In the final 15 minutes of play, Georgetown’s offense controlled the ball, as the defense and sophomore goalie Miles Kass played the hard-nosed defense typical of a Dave Urick-coached team.
The Hoyas capped off an impressive afternoon when Paolisso netted his third goal of the match off a pick-and-roll play with fellow senior middie Pete Cannon.
“Paolisso is playing well at both ends of the field, and he’s scoring goals for us,” Urick noted.
The Hoyas will quickly prepare for their next game versus ECAC foe Hobart (3-1), which will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. on the Multi-Sport Field.
