Georgetown men’s lacrosse (11-5, 5-0 BIG EAST) ended their season with a 16-6 loss to the Duke University Blue Devils (11-4, 1-3 ACC) in the NCAA Division I Championships quarterfinals on Sunday, May 17.
Ranked No. 10, Georgetown came into what was sure to be a tight matchup just three spots ahead of the No. 13 Blue Devils. Both teams pulled upsets in their first round games with Georgetown winning 14-10 over the No. 4 University of Virginia and Duke winning 14-12 over the No. 2 University of Richmond.
The game started off promising for the Hoyas, with a goal by sophomore attacker Jack Ransom in the first minute of play. Georgetown junior goalkeeper Anderson Moore followed up Ransom’s effort with two saves to maintain Georgetown’s 1-0 lead.
With 9:41 left in the first quarter, a holding penalty on junior defender Ty Banks gave the Blue Devils a man-up opportunity that they quickly capitalized on to even the score at 1-1. Saves by Moore and Duke’s sophomore goalkeeper Buck Cunningham kept the game tied until the last minutes of the first quarter.
After a low-scoring start to the game, the Blue Devils found the back of the net twice within a minute to go up 3-1.
In the beginning of the second quarter, the Blue Devils scored two goals within four seconds of each other, followed by another just two minutes later to bring the score to 6-1, where it remained for the remainder of the half. Despite Duke’s offensive success, the problem for the Hoyas was not their defense, but their offense.
By the conclusion of the second quarter, the Hoyas only had one shot on goal, which Cunningham saved, and seven of the Hoyas’ possessions ended in turnovers. Graduate attacker Rory Connor and junior attacker Liam Connor were also stifled by Duke’s defense in the first half. The brothers are often the Hoyas’ best offensive weapon, and without them contributing goals, the Hoyas found themselves in a tight position.
More than 30 minutes after their first goal, the Hoya senior midfielder Joe Cesare finally found the back of the net with 11:48 left in the third quarter. However, the Blue Devils responded with four goals of their own to stretch the lead to 10-2. With two minutes left in the quarter, Rory Connor finally recorded a score, and then both teams traded goals to make the score 11-4 going into the fourth quarter.
The final quarter didn’t hold many changes for the trajectory of the game for Georgetown, though the Hoya offense did seem to finally pick up steam. Georgetown managed to put up two goals in the quarter; though, the Blue Devils were able to answer with scores of their own, eliminating any chance for a come-back.
Defensively, while the Hoyas put up a decent first half—keeping Duke to only six goals—they struggled in the second half and allowed the Blue Devils to record 10 goals.
On the other side of the ball, Duke’s defense played remarkably, shutting down Georgetown’s biggest threats without putting much of a burden on Cunningham, who only had to make 10 saves on the day. Duke’s freshman long-stick midfielder Will Pedicano was all over the Hoyas and forced three turnovers, tying his season-high.
In the end, the Hoyas fell 16-6 to the Blue Devils in what was a disappointing end to an otherwise very successful season. Nevertheless, Georgetown has a promising future with only one of their top seven point leaders graduating. Freshmen midfielders Jake Bickel and Natty Mason had 29 and 19 points (goals plus assists) respectively this season and are sure to be strong offensive threats for the Hoyas looking forward.
