Lie Down, Virginia, Lie Down!

May 19, 2006

In the days before jet travel and multi-million conference TV deals, college sports rivalries were defined by similarity and geography. Tom Jefferson's school and John Carroll's school, Virginia and Georgetown respectively, were natural athletic rivals. The intensity of this rivalry in football was so great that the early version of the fight song included the line: "Lie down, Virginia, lie down!"

Today, the Hoya-Hoo rivalry is very much scaled down with the two schools facing each other infrequently and only in a couple of sports. The sport in which both schools consistently vie for national supremacy is lacrosse - men's and women's.

Coco Stanwick '07, a finalist for this year's Tewaaraton Trophy (the Heisman for lacrosse), in action against Virginia

Matt McBride `08 greets his parents following NCAA first round victory over Navy

Earlier this spring, the Georgetown women's lacrosse team faced Virginia at the Yard. Led by junior Coco Stanwick, the Hoyas took down the Wahoos by the score of 8-4. Having advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals this Saturday, the #3-seeded Hoyas will face #6-seeded Notre Dame in South Bend. BTW, the #2-seeded Wahoos, who were on a collision course to meet the Hoyas in the semi-finals, washed out last weekend against Princeton. Lie down, Virginia, lie down!

On Sunday, the #8-seeded Georgetown men's lacrosse team will challenge #1-seeded Virginia in the NCAA quarterfinals at Towson University. None of the prognosticators are giving the Hoyas much of a shot, but to my way of thinking, it's an opportune chance to match up against the team that most have already crowned national champs. Lie down, Virginia, lie down!

GU Hall of Famer Fred Mesmer played and coached basketball and tennis on the Hilltop

Now a sports reporter for CSTV, former Hoya lax standout Sheehan Stanwick `01 followed in her grandfather's athletic footsteps at Georgetown

More than 75 years ago, as the first golden age of Georgetown athletics was coming to a close, young men like Maurice McCarthy '30 (soon to be intercollegiate golf champion), Nevins McBride '29, Bill Shea '31, and Fred Mesmer '30 all played together on the same Hoya basketball team. Fellow student Leo McCormick '30 paid his dues in the Hoya boxing ring. Many years later, the fledgling men's lacrosse team was given a helping hand by the efforts of McCormick and Shea, whose grandson, Drew '87, would later play lacrosse at Georgetown. The offspring of the McBride family would also fill the Hoya athletic ranks, including current men's lax sophomore Matt McBride, grandson of Nevins' brother, Joe `40. Perhaps most remarkable of all these golden era legacies is that of Fred Mesmer, one of the greatest athletes to come to Georgetown from Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse. He went on to coach the basketball and tennis teams on the Hilltop throughout the 1930's. His daughter Dorothy married Hoya alum Wells Stanwick '76 and their daughter, Coco, is the third of eight lacrosse-playing children and now the third to star on the Hilltop. Lie down, Virginia, lie down!

Former roundballer Bill Shea helped start men's lacrosse on the Hilltop after giving life to a new baseball team and stadium in NYC

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Players Mentioned

#15 Matt McBride: A; 5' 10"; Junior

#13 Coco Stanwick: Attack; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#15 Matt McBride
: 5' 10"; Junior
: A

#13 Coco Stanwick
: Sophomore
: Attack

Players Mentioned

#15 Matt McBride

#13 Coco Stanwick

Players Mentioned

#15 Matt McBride

#13 Coco Stanwick