The Georgetown’s women’s lacrosse team (8-7, 3-1 Big East) dominated the Old Dominion Monarchs (3-13, 0-4 Big East) during the whole game to obtain a 18-4 win on Cooper Field. After a loss on Wednesday against No. 2 Maryland (16-0, 5-0 Big Ten), the Hoyas secured a valuable victory that guarantees their spot in the Big East Tournament. Senior midfielder Francesca Whitehurst and senior attacker Taylor Gebhardt scored four goals each, adding three and one assist respectively. For the Monarchs, junior attacker Glory Johnson notched a hat-trick, scoring three out of the four team goals.
The game got off to a slow start, with the Hoyas controlling the ball but not being able to find the back of ODU’s goal. After head coach Ricky Fried called a timeout three minutes into the game, Georgetown woke up and the scoring spree commenced. Senior attacker Morgan Ryan, Whitehurst, and freshman attacker Ali Diamond scored a goal each in less than five minutes to give the Hoyas a 3-0 lead. ODU quickly replied with a goal from Johnson, but Georgetown kept the foot on the gas, going on a 4-0 run with two goals from Gebhardt, another one from Ryan, and one from junior midfielder Liza Liotta. Johnson would score again for ODU to make it 7-2, although the Hoyas would end the half on another 4-0 run thanks to goals from Whitehurst (2), Gebhardt, and junior attacker Michaela Bruno. The final score at the half was 11-2, portraying the Hoyas’ dominance in every aspect of the game. The Monarchs committed 13 turnovers to Georgetown’s seven, while the Hoyas outshot ODU 28-5.
The second half was a more relaxed effort for the home team, although Whitehurst would score her fourth and last goal of the game only 19 seconds into the period. Fried introduced several reserves during the half, giving everybody an opportunity to play.
“I thought we played well today, everybody had an opportunity to play, Fried said after the game. Next week we need to make sure we are pushing ourselves in practice to improve for the upcoming games.”
The rest of the game would be a scoring festival, with ODU’s Johnson getting a hat-trick and junior attacker Michelle Hallman notching her first goal of the season, while Georgetown saw six different players score in this second half: Whitehurst, Gebhardt, Ryan, junior attacker Emily Ehle, sophomore midfielder Mary Pagano and senior attacker Liliana Brown.
Senior Day was a success overall for the Hoyas, as they said goodbye to the class of 2019 with a solid win during a sunny day on Cooper Field.
“Mixed emotions,”Coach Fried reflected afterwards. “Obviously it is great that they get to go off on a game like this, weather wise and game wise, but they have been a fantastic group for us for four years, they have been leading since they got to the Hilltop and we are going to miss them, so that is one of the reasons why we want to extend the season as long as possible.”
Georgetown will face the Marquette Golden Eagles (8-8, 2-2 Big East) in their regular season finale next Saturday in Milwaukee, WI., a game which will decide the fate of the Hoyas in the Big East Tournament and position them to make a run for the NCAA title. Initial draw is scheduled at 3:00 p.m. ET on Valley Field. Follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter for more updates and coverage of all sports at Georgetown.
