Hoyas Have Big Second Half, Hold Off Harvard
from press release
WASHINGTON - Three different players scored two
goals apiece and No. 14 Georgetown scored nine goals in the second
half as the Hoyas opened up a five-goal lead before hanging on for
a 13-12 win over No. 11 Harvard on Wednesday afternoon at the
Multi-Sport Field. Georgetown improves to 1-1 overall, while
Harvard falls to 1-1.
The Hoyas trailed 5-4 at the half, but scored three-straight goals
to start the third quarter, including a goal from freshman Travis
Comeau (Alberta, Canada/The Hill Academy) that gave the Hoyas a 7-5
lead.
Harvard would score twice to tie the game at 7-all on an
unassisted goal from Ben Smith, but Georgetown took the lead for
good at the end of the third quarter and scored four of the first
five goals in the fourth quarter to take a 13-8 lead they would not
relinquish.
Tied at 7-all, Comeau gave the Hoyas the lead for good after he
picked up a loose ball in front of the cage and bounced a shot past
Harvard goalie Christian Coates with 2:27 left Harvard had
possession to start the fourth quarter, but junior Dan Hostetler
(Ellicott City, Md./River Hill) forced a turnover and senior middie
Chris Schuville (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) raced
upfield and scored with 13:12 left to give the Hoyas a 9-7
lead.
The lead grew to 10-7 when freshman Dan McKinney (Niskayuna,
N.Y./Niskayuna) fired a shot from 25 yards out midway through the
quarter, but Harvard pulled to within 10-8 on a goal from Jeff
Cohen with 5:52 to play in the game.
Less than a minute later, senior Andrew Brancaccio (Bethesda,
Md./Georgetown Prep) scored from 15 yards out on a low shot and
redshirt junior Rickey Mirabito (Binghamton, N.Y./Chenango Forks)
extended the Hoya lead to 13-8 with 3:34 to play when he scored
back-to-back goals. Mirabito scored his first goal with 4;09 to
play as he raced around the goal and then freshman Zac Guy (Tully,
N.Y./Tully) sent a pass from behind the cage to Mirabito, whose
shot beat Coates to the upper right.
Harvard did not go quietly as the Crimson scored four times in a
span of 1:40 with 1:55 left in the game. A goal from Terry White
with 15 seconds left made it 13-12, but junior Brian Tabb (Chevy
Chase, Md./Georgetown Prep) - who was 15-of-28 for the day - won
the final faceoff and Schuville picked up the last of his team-high
six ground balls to close the game out.
Trailing by one at the break, the Hoyas scored three goals over
the first seven minutes of the game and took a 7-5 lead. Senior
Craig Dowd (East Northport, N.Y./Northport) knotted the game just
47 seconds into the half and sophomore Zack Angel (Park Hill,
Md./St. Mary Ryken) gave GU 6-5 lead with a shot at 11:28. Guy fed
a ball through traffic to Comeau with 8;42 left in the quarter as
the lead grew to 7-5.
Goals from Kevin Vaughan and Ben Smith tied the game at 7-all, but
Comeau responded to give GU the lead for good and set up the
scoring punch in the fourth quarter.
The Hoyas had jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead with a pair of first
quarter goals. Dowd fed senior Scott Kocis (Huntington,
N.Y./Huntington) for Georgetown's first goal, a strike just over
three minutes into the game. The lead grew to two goals when junior
middie Max Seligmann (Essex Falls, N.J./Delbarton) tallied an
unassisted goal.
Harvard, however, came back and scored three-straight goals in the
final 5:35 of the first quarter to take a 3-2 lead. Dean Gibbons
scored an unassisted goal with 5;35 to play, but the Crimson would
score twice in the final minute to take a 3-2 lead. Travis Burr
scored an unassisted goal with 52 seconds left and Jeff Cohen
scored with three seconds left to give Harvard the lead.
Cohen scored his second-straight goal, and Harvard's
fourth-straight, as Georgetown fell behind 4-2 with 8:58 to play in
the half. The Hoyas pulled to within 4-3 at the 4:57 mark - scoring
their first goal in 15 minutes - when junior Stu Shannon
(Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Detroit Country Day) - blasted a shot from
the right wing.
The Hoyas maintained possession after the faceoff and had a couple
of chances, but a turnover gave Harvard the ball and the Crimson
responded, with Kevin Vaughan scoring an unassisted goal with 1:28
to play, making it 5-3. Angel got Georgetown to within 5-4 at the
half, scoring with 48 seconds left.
Ten different players scored goals and 11 different players had
points for Georgetown, led by Dowd, who had one goal and two
assists, Mirabito and Angel scored two goals apiece and Guy had two
assist. Georgetown out-shot Harvard, 46-42, including 26-18 in the
second half, and the Hoyas had a 43-30 advantage in ground balls,
won 15-of-28 faceoff attempts and senior goalie Jack Davis (Glen
Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge) had 12 saves. The 13 goals scored for
Georgetown marked the first time in 21 years under Head Coach Dave
Urick that the Hoyas had scored that many in the first two games of
a season.
