The Georgetown men’s lacrosse team endured an up and down opening game against the Lafayette Leopards on Saturday, ultimately losing 11-10. After a strong first half, the Hoyas faltered on defense in the second, allowing their opposition to secure the win. The game was not without its highlights, as senior attacker Brian Casey put out a Big East Honor Roll-worthy performance.
The Hoyas will not dwell for too long on their loss, although they will still take what they can out of the experience. A lot of time remains between now and the start of the Big East tournament in April.
“Sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounces,” said Head Coach Kevin Warne. “When a team holds a lot of possession, you need to keep that sharp mental focus and know things are going to happen. Some teams will lull you to sleep and that’ll be when they get you.”
The game began largely in Georgetown’s favor, as Casey scored two goals less than two minutes into the contest. Sophomore attacker Reilly O’Connor and senior midfielder Jason McFadden added two more goals to the Hoya’s tally with eight minutes still to go in the first quarter.
Lafayette would not stay silent for long. In the final minutes of the first quarter, junior midfielder Jake Mann scored to put the Leopards within three goals of Georgetown. The Blue and Gray successfully endured a two-man deficit, only to see Mann fire a huge shot from the top of the box, making the score at the end of the first quarter 4-2.
The dawn of the second quarter saw sophomore midfielder Charlie McCormick step up his play. McCormick scored his first collegiate goal when O’Connor picked him out just in front of the crease. He put the ball away to make the score 5-2 in favor of the Hoyas.
Not one to be outdone, Casey stepped back out of the shadows to score yet another goal, this time owing his goal to junior attacker Jeff Fountain. Fountain lost his defender behind the net and quickly passed the ball to Casey. The Leopard goalkeeper could only gaze morosely at the scoreboard as the ball sailed past him into the net, advancing the score to a 6-2 Hoya lead.
Lafayette attacker Brian Bock then scored as he swung around the cage and put the ball in the Hoya net. The Hoyas would not be satisfied with the 6-3 scoreline and thanks to McCormick and senior defender Chris Nourse, put away two more goals to dominate the board with a score of 8-3.
Lafayette came out strong after the break to tighten the match. The Leopards scored three unanswered goals before Casey assisted an O’Connor goal, taking the score to 9-6.
The Leopards really got going in the fourth quarter as they embarked on a five-goal scoring run, featuring sophomore attacker Sonny Round’s third and fourth goals of the game, shortening the Hoya lead to just one at 9-8. During the run, sophomore midfielder Keegan Lawton and Bock both scored to give Lafayette the lead.
Warne said of their inconsistent performance, “I think it was a tale of two halves. We did what we needed to do in executing the game plan pretty well in the first half. The second half saw a loss in possession for us. We also lost a lot of the 50-50 groundballs which hurt us a lot. I think Lafayette was able to get those balls at important times of the game, like the third quarter. We didn’t have possession a whole lot. Even the smallest breakdown meant we didn’t have a chance at success.”
Casey came up huge for the Hoyas as he scored the tenth Hoya goal after picking up his own rebound. A score of 10-10 sent it into overtime where Lafayette’s John Floyd scored the winning goal to end the game at 11-10 Leopards.
The Hoyas are back in action when they host rival Navy at noon on Feb. 24.
“Anytime you think of the Naval Academy, you think of tough, athletic guys who are good on the ground,” said Warne. “I think that’ll be a major factor in the game. When you play the Naval Academy, you know you have to be ready to play 60 minutes, because they are.”
