Photo Gallery

Georgetown 15, High Point 5

Final Stats

WASHINGTON - Georgetown University's men's lacrosse team earned a resounding 15-5 victory over visiting High Point in the 2018 season opener on Tuesday afternoon. Eight different Hoyas scored goals in the win, Georgetown's first season opening victory since the 2014 campaign.

Sophomore Jake Carraway (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) paced Georgetown's potent offense with five goals and an assist for six points. Daniel Bucaro (East Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville), Robert Clark (Cooksville, Md./McDonogh) and Austin McDonald (Olney, Md./Georgetown Prep) all added a pair of goals while Craig Berge (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa), Lucas Wittenberg (Kennesaw, Ga./Harrison/Mercer), Massimo Bucci (Ithaca, N.Y./IMG Academy) and Matt Behrens (Bronxville, N.Y./Bronxville) all chipped in goals as well.

The Hoyas were proficient in their ball movement all day, assisting on nine of their 15 goals. Berge and Bucaro both tallied three assists while Carraway, Wittenberg and Peter Tagliaferri (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley) each added one.

Defensively, senior goalie Nick Marrocco (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) had an outstanding day between the pipes. He collected 12 saves on the day and allowed only three goals in just over 50 minutes of action while holding the Panthers to a nearly 35-minute drought spanning the first three quarters.

Georgetown's defense was stingy, with the close-D unit of senior Connor Moran (Monkton, Md./Loyola Blakefield), sophomore Stephen MacLeod (San Francisco, Calif./St. Ignatius) and freshman Gibson Smith (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Manor) keeping pressure on the HPU attack and forcing the Panthers into low percentage shots all day. Greg Galligan (Oyster Bay Cove, N.Y./St. Anthony's) helped pace the defensive midfield with a game high two caused turnovers.

The Hoyas also blanked High Point in man-down situations, holding their guests to 0-for-4 in extra-man opportunities, including a two-man advantage to close out the first half.

Tagliaferri went 9-for-17 at the faceoff `X' and hauled in four ground balls to go with his assist.

Bucaro put the Blue & Gray on the board early, scoring his first goal of the season just 29 seconds into the game. McDonald added another 44 seconds later before High Point got on the board at the 12:33 mark to cut GU's lead to 2-1.

It would be all Georgetown from that point on as the Hoyas held HPU scoreless until midway through the third quarter. Carraway tallied four of his goals in the opening half while all three of Berge's assists came during that span as GU took a 9-1 lead going into halftime.

Coming out of the break, McDonald put the Blue & Gray up 10-1 at the 13:40 mark before the Panthers responded with back-to-back goals to make it 10-3 with 6:12 remaining in the stanza. Georgetown answered right back with five-straight goals to lead 15-3 before HPU scored two late goals in the final 1:12 against GU's reserves to make it a 15-5 final score.

Asher Nolting led High Point with two goals and an assist while Connor Robinson scored both of HPU's goals in the final 1:12 of play.

The Hoyas return to action as they hit the road to take on Robert Morris in Moon Twp., Pennsylvania, on Saturday, February 17 at 1 p.m.