Dog Pound: Hoyas Top Hounds in Big East Semifinal
from press release
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- The top-seeded
Georgetown University women's lacrosse team moved one step closer
to a BIG EAST Championship defeating fourth-seeded Loyola (Md.)
University (11-7) 11-9 in the semifinals of the conference
tournament on Thursday evening at Yurcak Field. With the victory,
Georgetown has made it nine in a row tying the longest win streak
in program history and improving to 12-5 for the season.
"After a difficult week, I was happy to see us come together and
get the win," said Head Coach Ricky Fried. "Loyola is a talented
team and I have to give credit to their goalie who thwarted a
number of attempts. We're excited to be in the championship game
and happy we lived to see another day on Saturday."
Jacqueline Giles (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) scored the first
goal of the game on a nice curl around the goal from the left side.
Loyola evened the score, but First Team All-BIG EAST selection
Kelly Barnes (St. Davids, Pa./Radnor) had a response. Barnes caused
a turnover and passed down to Jordy Kirr (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr
Academy) who found the back of the cage at 22:07.
Unfortunately, the Greyhounds built some momentum to close out the
half with a 3-1 run. Senior attacker Molly Ford (Reisterstown,
Md./Notre Dame Prep) managed an unassisted tally, but the Hoyas
still trailed 5-3 at the break.
The Greyhounds went ahead by three as Grace Gavin scored a diving
goal less than a minute into the second, however, Georgetown
finally began to make a comeback as GU staged a 5-0 run.
Kirr started with the ball on the left side and bounced one in
between keeper Kerry Stoothoff's legs. She scored another as Erin
Lovett (Wantagh, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) took a free position and
used a fake to find Kirr next to the cage. The Blue & Gray tied
it up at the 21-minute mark on an unassisted shot from Sophia
Thomas (Lutherville, Md./Maryvale Prep). Bunny O'Reilly
(Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School) scored the go-ahead goal
getting her own rebound and putting it back in making the score
7-6.
Senior midfielder Ashby Kaestner (Trappe, Md./Saints Peter and
Paul) scored off of a free position at 14:52, but Loyola finally
stopped the run with a goal at 13:52 after a tough GU turnover. The
Greyhounds followed with another score off of the draw control to
tie it at eight.
Thomas hit a free position to take another lead, but it would
come down to the wire. Ford then made a good decision shooting low
to make it 10-8 off of a pass from Kelsi Bozel (Hunt Valley,
Md./Notre Dame Prep). Bozel tallied a goal of her own minutes later
firing a bullet right in front of the goal.
The Hoyas couldn't breathe yet, as Gavin cut it to two. However,
the Blue & Gray managed to hold on for the 11-9 victory to
advance to the championship game.
Kirr led the way with the hat trick, while both Ford and Thomas had
two goals apiece. The Hoyas outshot the Greyhounds 32-22, but had
one less draw control (12-11) as the squads tied in ground balls
with 20 each. Caitlin Formby (Towson, Md./Notre Dame Prep) had
eight saves in the cage for Georgetown.
The Hoyas will face the winner of No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3
Syracuse on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Yurcak Field. The game will be
televised live on CBS College Sports and live stats will be
available at www.GUHoyas.com.
