The Georgetown women’s lacrosse team (11-4, 7-1 Big East) won its sixth game in a row after beating the Marquette Golden Eagles (9-7, 5-3 Big East) 9-8 in overtime. Junior attacker Taylor Gebhardt led the Hoyas with three goals. Senior midfielder Allison Lane added three for the Golden Eagles, while sophomore goalkeeper Jules Horning pitched in with 19 saves to prevent the Hoyas from running away with the contest. Georgetown head coach Ricky Fried recorded his 150th win as head coach, and Georgetown clinched a spot, and top-two seed, in the Big East Championship tournament.
“One of our goals is to get a top four seed so that we can have a chance to compete for the conference title so that we can have a chance to get to the NCAAs,” Fried said. “We’ve got to make sure that we guard against complacency and continue to work.”
Sophomore midfielder Natalia Lynch opened the scoring with a goal from a free position shot before senior midfielder Hannah Seibel doubled the scoring from Lynch’s assist. After a goal from Marquette senior midfielder Allison Lane, freshman midfielder Carolina Frock made it 3-1 from a free position shot before Gebhardt, Georgetown’s leading scorer on the season with 44 goals entering Saturday’s matchup, bounced one past Horning.
After senior midfielder Charlotte McGuire scored the second for the Golden Eagles, Lynch and Frock scored their second goals of the match to put the Hoyas up 6-2 with 10 minutes left in the half. Marquette then put together a three goal run in the space of a minute and ten seconds, with the goals from junior midfielder Logan Dobratz, Lane, and McGuire, which got the traveling Marquette fans on their feet.
“I think we got a little casual; I think we felt pretty good about ourselves,” Fried said. “Marquette plays with a lot of energy, a lot of confidence, and we didn’t match their energy today, and that’s what I think turned the tide.”
Both Horning and Georgetown junior goalkeeper Haelle Chomo made pivotal saves to keep the score at 6-5, and from Chomo’s save, the Hoyas countered. The ball ended up with junior attacker Morgan Ryan, who took a big hit from Marquette’s junior defender Kaitlyn Viviano as she passed to Gebhardt. Viviano ended up with a yellow card, and Gebhardt played the advantage to cooly finish past Horning to make it 7-5 Georgetown.
Georgetown had an opportunity to score after calling its timeout with 23.3 seconds left in the half, but couldn’t work enough space for Gebhardt to get a shot. As such, Georgetown went into the half leading 7-5.
The Hoyas started the second half slow and couldn’t absorb the pressure from the Golden Eagles. Marquette senior attacker Riley Hill scored a free position shot before Lane completed her hat trick and equalized less than a minute later. At the 24:47, Marquette had all the momentum and looked dangerously close to blowing the game wide open.
The Hoyas, however, grew into the half and began to match Marquette’s offense with chances of their own and were more solid defensively. After over ten minutes of scoreless lacrosse, the Hoyas finally piled on a period of extended pressure, and sophomore attacker Michaela Bruno converted on the third free position shot of the sequence to give the Hoyas an 8-7 lead.
Both teams had plenty of chances to score from there, but Horning made save after save for the Golden Eagles while Marquette struggled to hit the target. After another save by Horning, a hopeful long pass bounced into the Georgetown half. Junior defender Megan Massimino couldn’t scoop up the rolling ball, and Marquette sophomore midfielder Megan Menzuber pounced to make the score 8-8 with 7:21 on the clock.
Horning kept making saves, and the Georgetown defense forced the 90 second shot clock to run out multiple times before Fried called timeout with a minute remaining in regulation. Bruno bounced a shot over the crossbar with 15 seconds left before Lynch earned a free position shot with 6.6 seconds on the clock with a chance to win. However, the shot went right at Horning, who was content to keep the ball herself and wait for overtime.
“I thought she played very well,” Fried said of Horning’s performance. “She had her angles covered. She made all the saves she’s supposed to make.”
Marquette won the opening faceoff of overtime, but the Hoyas forced a turnover before the Golden Eagles could create a shot opportunity. After being kept quiet during the second half, Gebhardt managed to create some space for herself and scored low past Horning to win the game for the Hoyas. This was Gebhardt’s second last gasp game winner in as many games after scoring a late winner on Wednesday as well.
“Quality teams figure out a way to win, at the end of the day, no matter how they’re playing” Fried said. “We’re figuring out how to win games, which gives us confidence.”
The Hoyas return to action when they host Loyola Maryland (12-3, 8-0 Patriot League) on Wednesday at 3 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for March 21 but was postponed for inclement weather. For more updates for women’s lacrosse and all of the spring sports at Georgetown, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
