July 27, 2007
The 2007 Georgetown University women's lacrosse team had one streak snapped but continued another and once again proved to be one of the nation's top teams. GU finished the season with the fourth strongest strength of schedule and squared off with seven teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
The Hoyas had their streak of nine straight NCAA Tournament appearances broken but extended their streak of regular-season BIG EAST titles to seven.
GU finished 10-8 overall and 4-1 in league action and advanced to the league's first-ever BIG EAST Tournament Championship Game.
Seniors Maggie Koch and Coco Stanwick were named to the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) First Team in the South Region while defender Laura Cipro was named to the South Region Second Team. The trio earned three of the 128 selections at the Division I level in eight regions.
Senior Coco Stanwick became the school's first three-time First Team All-Ameircan after leading Georgetown with 87 points, 63 goals and 24 assists and while earning BIG EAST Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors. The All-BIG EAST First Team award winner also totaled 79 draw controls to rank second in the nation. The Baltimore native concluded her BIG EAST career with the second-highest point total in conference history (90 points). She finished the season ranked fifth in the country with 3.5 goals per game and 4.83 points per game. Stanwick finished her illustrious career ranked second on the school's all-time lists with 85 assists, and 198 draw controls while ranking third all-time with 199 career goals and 284 career points.
In addition to Stanwick's Offensive Player of the Year award, Koch earned her second consecuitve BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year award while Cipro earned All-BIG EAST First Team accolades. Junior midfielder Patty Piotrowicz garnered All-BIG EAST Second Team honors.
During their four years, the 2007 senior class of Schuyler Sutton, Brittany Baschuk, Koch, Rachel Mech, Ali Rogers, Stanwick, Chloe Asselin, Megan Ellis, Cipro and Margaret Farland helped the team win more than 70 percent of its games. This group saw the Hoyas advance to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals three times and advanced all the way to the Final Four during their freshman season. This group played a major role as the Hoyas won 37 of 38 BIG EAST regular-season games on their way to four straight regular-season league titles.
The 2007 Hoyas posted three separate three-game winning streaks and extended their BIG EAST regular-season winning streak to 37 games before falling to No. 11 Notre Dame in mid-April.
Georgetown got off to an ominous start in a 14-10 home loss to No. 12 James Madison. It marked the first season-opening loss for the Hoyas since 1993. After being tied at the half, Georgetown held an 9-7 lead with 18:30 to go but the Dukes scored the games' next six goals over a ten-minute span to take a 13-9 lead with eight minutes left. Sophomore Bunny O'Reilly tallied two goals and two assists in her first career start.
GU then went on their first three-game winning streak. The Hoyas toppled visiting Oregon 11-8. Stanwick followed up a five-goal game vs. JMU with a seven-point (six goals, one assist) effort. Senior Schuyler Sutton added her first two goals of the season, while classmate Brittany Baschuk had her second multiple-point game with a goal and an assist. Chloe Asselin had a game-high four ground balls.
Georgetown welcomed No. 12 Syracuse to the Hilltop in a game televised locally on MASN. No. 10 Georgetown gave up an 8-6 lead with eight minutes to go but came back and edged the Orange, 9-8 in sudden victory overtime, extending its regular-season BIG EAST winning streak to 35 games. The Hoyas improved to 14-1 in home games under third-year head coach Ricky Fried and upped its record to 5-1 in its last six overtime games dating back to the 2006 season. Bashuck tallied the game-winner with 1:53 to go in sudden victory OT (her third career OT winner) after taking a pass from Stanwick. Baschuk finished with two goals and an assist while Stanwick recorded four goals and two assists. Koch made a career-high 14 saves.
The Hoyas continued their winning ways with a 16-13 win over No. 12 Johns Hopkins. Baschuk, O'Reilly and Sutton all posted four goals while Stanwick handed out a career-best five assists. Midway through the second half, GU broke open 9-8 lead with five straight goals over a ten minute span to pull away. Koch made eight saves between the pipes for the Hoyas and Asselin led Georgetown with three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Georgetown then took fourth-ranked Duke down to the wire. The Hoyas held a three-goal advantage at halftime but the Blue Devils scored the first four goals of the second half to take a lead. Duke's goalie made a tremendous save on a Stanwick shot with 5:30 left followed by a long Duke possession and goal that put the visitors up 12-10 with just 40 seconds to go.
GU went on the road to play seven of their next eight games on the road. The Hoyas won easily at George Mason, 12-6, outshooting the Patriots 21-12 in the first half and taking a 6-2 lead at halftime to cruise the rest of the way. Sophomore Courtney Hubschmann and freshmen Emily Bock, Sarah Seats and Caroline Shettle saw their first game action of the year.
The Hoyas toppled No. 18 Rutgers, 9-3 after taking a 6-1 lead at intermission with the defense posting their best effort of the year, yielding a season-low three goals. Koch matched a career-high with 14 saves and allowed just one goal over the game's first 29-plus minutes.
Georgetown recorded its second three-game winning streak of the year after a 13-5 win over William & Mary to improve to 6-2 on the season. Zan Morley and Bunny O'Reilly both notched hat tricks while Chloe Asselin and Laura Cipro caused three turnovers apiece.
The Hoyas dropped a tough 8-6 loss at No. 2 North Carolina, snapping a four-game win streak over UNC. GU held a 5-1 lead with 41 minutes left before Georgetown was held scoreless for the next 29 minutes. The Blue and Gray outshot UNC, 24-20 but the Tar Heel goaltender stopped 15 Hoya shots, including three pivotal stops in the last six minutes, yielding just one second half goal.
The schedule didn't get any easier for Georgetown as the Hoyas welcomed No. 3 Maryland to the Hilltop four days after the trip to Chapel Hill. Georgetown fell behind 7-2 midway through the opening half and never recovered. Sophomore Jordan Trautman collected two ground balls to go along with three caused turnovers.
Following an easy 14-3 victory over BIG EAST Conference foe Loyola, the Hoyas dropped their next two games at No. 5 Virginia, 14-7 on a cold and rainy night in Charlottesville before a 13-8 loss at No. 11 Notre Dame. The loss to the Irish snapped the Hoyas 37-league game winning streak. The highlight of the game was freshman Ashby Kaestner recording her first career hat trick with all three markers coming in the first seven minutes of play.
After a stretch of losing four of five give, the Hoyas won three straight for the third time. Georgetown handled George Washington, 18-7 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Hoyas then raced past Connecticut, 15-9 on Senior Day with a total team effort to clinch their seventh straight BIG EAST regular-season title. With the win, Georgetown locked up the No. 1 seed in the first-ever BIG EAST Tournament.
In the BIG EAST Tournament, held inside the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University, Georgetown took on No. 4 seed Notre Dame and avenged the earlier loss to the Irish with a 12-10 win.
Georgetown received six goals and an assist from Stanwick, 14 saves from Koch, including a stop that a Notre Dame attacker had from point-blank range with one minute to go in regulation with GU up two goals. The Hoyas held a 7-4 halftime lead and then held off a late Irish rally for the victory. Cipro played all 60 minutes on defense despite suffering a broken nose in a freak collision during practice the day before. Senior Ali Rogers caused two turnovers and scooped a ground ball.
The Hoyas advanced to take on second seeded Syracuse in the BIG EAST Championship Game. The Orange, who had come into the game having never beaten GU, got off to a great start outscoring Georgetown, 8-3 in the first half. Syracuse rode the momentum to a 12-7 win. Syracuse tallied two goals with less than a minute to go in the first half that really gave them a boost.
Despite the loss in the league title game, the Hoyas still had one reagular-season game remaining, at Princeton with a win that could have solidified a NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
Eighth-ranked Georgetown dropped a heartbreaking 12-11 loss at No. 11 Princeton. The Hoyas battled back from a 7-4 halftime deficit and took a 9-8 lead with 15 minutes to go but the Tigers tied the game at 10-10 with 7:29 left before the Tigers got a free position goal with 6:54 left for the game winner.
Stanwick finshed with 87 points in 2007, the second highest single season total in Georgetown history while Koch became the second Hoya to be named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year in consecutive seasons.
The 2007 senior class will be remembered for successful careers including a 50-22 overall record, a Final Four appearance, three straight NCAA Tournaments and four straight BIG EAST regular-season titles.
The Hoyas climbed as high as number three in the national polls and were ranked in the top ten for nine consecutive weeks and Georgetown continued its status as a national power.
