WILLIAMSBURG, VA - The unseasonably warm late-winter weather matched the heated action on the lacrosse field as second-ranked Georgetown got all it could handle from the 11th-ranked College of William and Mary before coming out on top of a hard fought 9-7 Hoya win at the College's turf on Busch Field.

The Hoyas, 4-0 on the year, rode the fancy stickwork of junior attacker Kate Ahearn (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls), three goals, and sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Ryan (Baltimore, Md./Roland Park Country School), two goals and an assist, to hold off a determined upset bid by the Tribe, which dropped to 3-1 on the season.

In the early going, the upset looked to be on as W&M senior attacker Lindsey Lowman (Lothian, MD) sandwiched two pretty assists around a goal of her own in the first seven minutes. The final tally of the mini-run came when Lowman spotted fellow senior Tara Hannaford (New London, CT) cutting to the right side of the crease and gave her a perfect feed that Hannaford one-timed into the lower weak side of goal staking the Tribe to a 3-0 lead with 23:26 remaining.

But the Hoyas responded with a four-goal run of its own, from four different players, to gain a 4-3 advantage at the 8:24 mark. The Tribe pulled even, for the last time, mere seconds later as sophomore attacker Julie Scurachio (Ellicott City, MD) scooped up the ensuing draw control, darted past the Georgetown defense and hammered home the equalizer with 8:15 left in the half. The Hoyas went back on top, for good, when Wick Stanwick (Baltimore, Md./Notre Dame Prep) hit twine at the 5:52 mark, ending the scoring for the half.

A quick score by Ryan, just 19 seconds after the second half draw control and a free position goal by Ahearn with 18:53 remaining in the game pushed the Georgetown advantage to a daunting 7-4 lead. The College fought back within two scores after Hannaford registered her second goal of the afternoon on a free position shot at 17:15, but the

upset was not meant to be as Ahearn found the back of the net two more times to seal the win for the Hoyas.

Hoya keeper Bowen Holden (Lincoln, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) was solid between the pipes in recording four saves on the afternoon.

The Hoya's next action will come this Saturday at 1:00 p.m., when the squad will host Syracuse University on Kehoe Field.

Scoring Summary

First Half

WM Evans (Lowman)     25:35 1-0

WM Lowman (FPS)       23:59 2-0

WM Hannaford (Lowman) 23:26 3-0

GU W. Stanwick (Elbe) 19:04 3-1

GU S. Stanwick        13:05 3-2

GU Elbe (FPS)         11:59 3-3

GU Ryan                8:24 3-4

WM Scurachio           8:15 4-4

GU W. Stanwick         5:52 4-5

Second Half

GU Ryan (S. Stanwick) 29:41 4-6
GU Ahearn (FPS)       18:53 4-7
WM Hannaford (FPS)    17:15 5-7
GU Ahearn              7:56 5-8
WM Lowman              7:01 6-8
GU Ahearn (R. Raneri)  1:29 6-9
WM Hannaford          00:15 7-9
 
GOALS: (WM) Hannaford (3), Lowman (2), Evans, Scurachio.
        (GU) Ahearn (3), Ryan (2), W. Stanwick (2), Elbe, S. Stanwick.
 
ASSISTS: (WM) Lowman (2). 

(GU) R. Raneri, Ryan, W. Stanwick.
GOALIES: (WM) Pheiffer: 60 minutes, 23 saves, 9 goals.
          (GU) Holden: 56 minutes, 4 saves, 6 goals; Vicchio: 4 minutes, 1 save, 1 goals. 

 
                  W&M GU

Goals              7    9
Assists              2   3
Shots              15  33
FPS                 3   6
Ground Balls        32  38
Caused Turnovers    8  23
Turnovers           14   12
Draw Controls       7   10
Saves               23   5