The greatest pain in sports can be summed up in two simple phrases: coming close and falling short. Knowing that you almost made it to the top of the podium, but just could not make that final push might be the pinnacle of pain in athletics. The only way to add insult to injury in this situation is to watch a rival team ascend as you fall away. The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team knows this feeling all too well. Due to a loss to Syracuse in the semi-final of the Big East tournament last season, when the Hoyas see orange, they’ll be seeing red.
Senior captain midfielder Kelsi Bozel made no attempt to hide the importance of the rivalry between Georgetown and Syracuse when asked about her Orange counterparts. Bozel said, “It’s a huge rivalry, especially because this is their last year in the Big East. The competition [is] even bigger this year.”
The semi-final of the Big East tournament between fourth-seeded Georgetown and first-seeded Syracuse was fraught with drama and excitement. Any meeting between the Hoyas and the Orange is always a special occasion, but the fact that the game finished 7-6 in favor of Syracuse added to the climax of the Hoyas’ season and also exacerbated the feelings of disappointment in the Georgetown locker room.
“It was really frustrating,” said Bozel, “especially because I felt like we played so well and stuck to our game plan, so I think we’ll use that this year. Although we did lose, it was a good game. I think that we’ve learned from it.”
Head Coach Ricky Fried had a different opinion of the loss. “While we did end up coming short, I think we played really well in our last game against an opponent we had lost to 22-11 two weeks earlier,” Fried said, “They ended up going to the national championship. That perspective helps us realize that we are capable of playing at that level. It’s just a matter of focusing and playing to our ability on a regular basis.”
The Hoyas surpassed any setbacks caused by a lingering bitterness and are looking forward to getting back on the field. Preseason polls and predictions have set the expectations. The Hoyas were selected 4th in the Big East coaches’ preseason poll and 14th overall in a poll produced by Lacrosse Magazine. However, numbers don’t seem to be the main focus for the Hoyas at the moment.
“We haven’t really focused on the rankings yet, but I think we can use it to our advantage by turning ourselves into underdogs. More importantly, we have higher expectations for ourselves, and we just want to make it up to the top,” said Bozel. (Valium)
Fried shares his captains high expectations and appears confident in his players’ abilities to keep moving forward this season. “At the end of the day, we kind of broke down the season a couple ways: we want to make sure we win the Big East regular season; we want to win the championship since it’s here; and then we want to be in the Final Four at the end of May,” Fried said.
According to Fried, the Hoyas will look to improve their confidence on the field. He knows his players have the skill, and he now says his players’ attitude will factor into their success on the field.
“I think that we have senior leadership, and the fact that we have a bit of a chip on our shoulder, not that we necessarily have something to prove, will help our mentality and help us on during games.”
The Hoyas open their season at Delaware on Feb. 16.
