North Carolina-Duke, Cal-Stanford, Army-Navy. These rivalries define college sports, making a normal game feel like a championship, ratcheting up the intensity and placing bragging rights on the line. With the Big East women’s lacrosse tournament beginning this Friday, the Hoyas are ready to face their own bitter foe, hoping to steal the coveted conference title from the Syracuse Orange.
Just mentioning the Orange evokes disgust from Georgetown fans—especially when, as recently, the Orange seem to have Georgetown’s number. The Syracuse women are two-time defending Big East tournament champions, both times defeating the Hoyas in the championship game. After sharing the Big East regular season title with Georgetown, the Orange look to dash the Hoyas’ dreams once again.
Courtesy Georgetown Sports Information
This year’s squad is determined to end Syracuse’s reign. The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team set two goals at the beginning of the year: win the Big East regular season title and then the Big East tournament. Although they faced a daunting regular season schedule, the Hoya women accomplished their first goal with a stunning combination of stingy defense and clutch contributions from various players, earning a few key wins in the process—most notably the four-overtime thriller against Syracuse. Georgetown, down 10-6 at one point, lost a top player, Molly Ford, to a red card, but still managed to come back and win 11-10. In the process, the Hoyas gained a psychological edge over the Orange heading into the tournament.
But to get a rematch with their rival, the Hoyas will first have to take down Louisville this Friday at the Multi-Sport Field. A win over the fourth-seeded Cardinals would put Georgetown in the championship game this Sunday, also at Multi-Sport. Syracuse must defeat Notre Dame if they want to avenge their previous defeat.
“We were excited to win the regular season title and get the number one seed, since both were team goals this preseason,” Fried said.
“The team worked hard to attain their goals, but now we need to move on to the next set in the tournament. The tournament plays a big part in us reaching our team goals this season. We’ll need to do well in order to win the tournament and get the [automatic qualification] into the NCAA Tournament.”
The squad says they’ve found an edge to make the difference in the now perennial rematch: heart.
“Our effort is amazing, we never give up,” says junior attacker Ford. “Even if we are down three or four goals, it isn’t a surprise to me that we are able to come back because as a team, we don’t give up.”
All of the Big East tournament teams will be ready to play. But with a combination of talent, strong coaching, confidence, and tenacity, the Hoyas look ready to become the beasts of the Big East. As they hoist that Big East championship trophy, let’s hope the Hoyas enjoy the sweet taste of orange juice.
