WASHINGTON – The No. 22 Georgetown University women's lacrosse squad will open the 2019 season on Saturday in Philadelphia against the Saint Joseph's University Hawks. The opening draw is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Sweeney Field.  The opening draw is scheduled for 3 p.m., and live stats as well as a webcast ($) will be available through www.GUHoyas.com.
 
The Hoyas returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and spent the entire year in the national rankings sitting as high as No. 21 in the IWLCA poll and No. 17 in the Inside Lacrosse poll. Georgetown finished the season with a mark of 12-7.
 
Junior midfielder Natalia Lynch (Smithtown, N.Y. / Smithtown West) was named Inside Lacrosse Honorable Mention Preseason All-American earlier this spring.  Last week, she was one of five Hoyas named Preseason All-BIG EAST.  Lynch was a IWLCA Second Team All-South Region and a First Team All-BIG EAST honoree last year. She was GU's team MVP last season after making a huge impact on both ends of the field. She ranked third on the team in scoring with 25 goals and 14 assists for 39 points. Lynch also led the Blue & Gray in draw controls and caused turnovers with 81 and 23, respectively.
 
Georgetown had four other preseason honorees in senior midfielder Francesca Whitehurst (Baltimore, Md. / Roland Park Country School), senior attacker Taylor Gebhardt (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker), senior goalkeeper Haelle Chomo (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) and sophomore defender Mollie Miller (Alexandria, Va./Saint Stephens & Saint Agnes).  Whitehurst and Gebhardt were both unanimous selections along with Lynch.
 
Whitehurst received her third Preseason All-BIG EAST nod going into her senior season.  She suffered a season-ending injury last year so appeared in just eight games with 12 goals and five assists to her credit along with 44 draw controls. She is the lone returning captain on the squad after serving as one in 2018. In her career she was the 2017 BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year and a First Team All-BIG EAST honoree as well as an IWLCA Second Team All-South Region selection. As a freshman, she earned Second Team All-BIG EAST honors. 
 
Gebhardt was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST first team after another outstanding season last year. She led the Hoyas in scoring with 65 points on 53 goals and 12 assists. Gebhardt was named the BIG EAST Attacker of the Week on April 24 and to the honor roll on April 17.
 
Chomo played a majority of the minutes in the cage last year and boasted 161 saves to go along with an 11.98 goals-against average as well as a .445 save percentage. She had an impressive record of 11-7 on the season. She was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on February 27 and March 20.
 
Miller started all 19 games on the backline for the Blue & Gray. She was third on the team in caused turnovers with 14, and managed one assist on offense. She was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on April 10. Miller was just one of just three sophomores to earn preseason honors in the league.
 
Seniors Megan Massimino (Villanova, Pa./Radnor) and Morgan Ryan (Maplewood, N.J./Oak Knoll School) along with Whitehurst and Gebhardt were selected as the captains to lead the 2019 squad.
 
Massimino started all 19 games for the Blue & Gray on the defensive end of the field a season ago. She managed 11 caused turnovers as well as 13 ground balls. The defender has been a two-year starter in her time on the Hilltop. This past season, she won the team's Denis Kanach Hoya Award which recognizes the unsung hero who best demonstrates unselfish play and true team spirit.
 
Ryan was GU's fourth-leading scorer in 2018 tallying 23 goals and 11 assists for 34 points. She also pulled in 27 draw controls. She has been a starter for the Hoyas since her freshman season, and has 87 career points on 61 goals and 26 assists.
 
Georgetown earned 21 points from the league's six head coaches as well as one first-place vote to sit in second behind the University of Denver with 25 points and five first place votes in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll. Marquette claimed third with 16 points, followed by Villanova in fourth with 14. BIG EAST newcomer Old Dominion and Butler rounded out the poll in fifth and sixth, respectively.
 
Saint Joseph's returns 24 Hawks from a squad that is coming off of a program-record 12-win season, which was capped by a run at the 2018 Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament.  Returning all-conference selections include senior attacker Rebecca Lane, junior midfielder Bridget Cerciello (Second Team), and all-rookie Team attackers Stephanie Kelly and Sam McGee.  The Hawks have been predicted to finish third in the A-10 regular-season standings this spring, behind Richmond and UMass.
 
The Hoyas are 4-0 all-time against the Hawks and 2-0 on the road. Last year, Georgetown opened the season with SJU at Cooper Field and came away with the 18-15 victory.  Gebhardt led the way with four goals, while Michaela Bruno (Garden City, N.Y. / Garden City) added three goals as well as five draw controls. Emily Ehle (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy) had a goal and a squad-high four assists and Whitehurst managed three goals along with a team-best nine draw controls.  The last meeting in Philly was a 19-1 Hoya victory during the 1995 campaign.