Georgetown women’s lacrosse moved to 5-4 on the season with a 16-11 win against the Cincinnati Bearcats (7-5, Big 12) on Friday afternoon, March 21. The Hoyas led for nearly the entire game, though the Bearcats did their part in keeping it close for most of the game—not trailing by more than three goals in the first half.
The game started with the Hoyas quickly going up 4-1 in the first seven minutes and it looked like the game would be an easy win for Georgetown. However, the Bearcats responded with a 4-0 run in four minutes to briefly take the lead, with junior attacker Camryn Callaghan scoring two goals within a minute. Georgetown’s zone defense had trouble defending against the Bearcat’s passing—with 75% of their goals in the first half coming off assists.
However, Cincinnati didn’t have an answer for Georgetown’s junior midfielder and draw taker Gracie Driggs. The Hoyas dominated the draw—with 10 out of 13 draw controls in the first quarter and 20 out of 29 in the game. The Bearcats also couldn’t contain Driggs on offense, who scored four of the Hoyas’ seven goals in the first quarter and had six goals on the day. Even when Georgetown’s scoring began to slow down in the second quarter, Cincinnati couldn’t close the gap and the first half ended with a score of 10-8.
Cincinnati’s one bright spot was the defensive effort by goalkeeper Hailey Darko, who had 12 saves on 28 shots on goal—a career high for the sophomore. Despite the efforts by Darko to keep the Bearcats in the game, the game started slipping away from Cincinnati in the second half.
In the third quarter, Georgetown started pulling away from the Bearcats, ending the quarter with a 14-10 lead. The Hoyas continued to dominate the draw and on offense it was all about sophomore attacker Anne McGovern—who had two goals and an assist on Georgetown’s four goals of the quarter. By the end of the quarter, it was clear that Cincinnati would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to make a comeback.
Georgetown dominated possession time in the fourth quarter, and though scoring was slow, back-to-back goals by graduate student Hanna Bishop (assisted by McGovern) sealed the game for the Hoyas. The Hoyas ended the game with seven different scorers, with McGovern leading all players with 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists) and Driggs leading all scorers with 6 goals scored.
The Hoyas begin conference play next week at the University of Denver (5-4, BIG EAST) on Saturday, Mar. 29, and are back on Cooper Field against Villanova University (6-3, BIG EAST) on Wednesday, Apr. 2, at 4:00 pm EST for their conference home opener.
