Georgetown Men’s lacrosse fans coming into the 2009 with inflated expectations have been forced to reevaluate their hopes just a few games into an already disappointing year. Following their first loss against St. John’s, the Hoyas have been taking their fans for a rollercoaster ride characterized by gut-wrenching lows and thrilling highs.
There have essentially been two Georgetown teams this season. The first is the spectacular squad that blew past Maryland in a high-scoring battle to open the season; the second is the crew that lost to St. John’s by one point and was out-performed in virtually every statistical category, from ground balls to face-offs to shots on goal.
This week, fans witnessed that awe-inspiring Hoya team dominate against Mount St. Mary’s, defeating the Mount 12-4 after an impressive third quarter. The win brings the Hoyas to 4-5 overall.
On Tuesday, Georgetown traveled to Emmitsburg, Maryland and returned with a much-needed win.
Georgetown Coach Dave Urick rotated his players from the outset of the game to prevent the team from running out of gas. Georgetown’s depth proved to be stronger than the Mount’s in the second half of play, and the Hoyas seemed to be running all over a tired opponent for most of the third quarter.
In the opening minutes of the game, senior Andrew Brancaccio picked up a ground ball off a rebounded shot from junior midfielder Scott Kocis and put it in the back of the net to take the lead 1-0. This set the tone for Georgetown’s dominance in ground ball play for the rest of the game. Following goals from freshmen Zack Angel and Adam Donahue and an unassisted goal from Brancaccio, the Hoyas entered the half leading 5-2.
In the third quarter of play, the Hoyas spread the ball around well, scoring six times with five different players. Sophomore Dan Hostetler made the score 10-2 with his first goal at Georgetown. Along with Angel and Donahue, Hostetler was the third player to score his first goal as a Hoya against the Mount on Tuesday.
“Offensively, we had better shot selection,” Coach Urick said. “That certainly was a big part of what we had in mind going into this game.”
In the second half of play, the Hoyas clearly gave Mount St. Mary’s sophomore goalie T.C. DiBartolo more than he could handle. The goalkeeper made only four saves, and the Hoya offense scored with ease. Georgetown particularly excelled at placing their shots.
“Sometimes guys just like to hit those corners,” Coach Urick said. “They get overly excited about just the top six inches of the goal.”
Coach Urick will continue to look for smarter and safer shots as the Hoyas prepare to take on Fairfield on Saturday.
