WASHINGTON – Georgetown University's men's lacrosse team opened its 2019 regular season with a hard fought 13-10 victory over visiting Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the No. 18/19 Hoyas improve to 1-0 on the young campaign and win their second-straight season opener.
Daniel Bucaro (East Setauket, N.Y. / Ward Melville) led the Hoyas with seven points (3G, 4A) while
Jake Carraway (Annapolis, Md. / St. Mary's) added five points (3G, 2A) to match his hat trick.
Robert Clark (Cooksville, Md. / McDonogh) added four points (2G, 2A) while Lucas Wittenburg (Kennesaw, Ga. / Harrison / Mercer) added three points (2G, 1A) to eclipse 100 points in his career.
Dylan Watson (Guelph, Ont. / The Hill Academy),
Jack Elders (Tiburon, Calif. / Redwood) and
Declan McDermott (Pleasantville, N.Y. / Pleasantville) each contributed a lone goal and
Massimo Bucci (Ithaca, N.Y. / IMG Academy) posted an assist.
On the defensive end, sophomore goalie
Owen McElroy (Ridgewood, N.J. / Ridgewood / Avon Old Farms) posted 16 saves on the day including six in the fourth quarter. He earned his first career victory with the win.
Gibson Smith (Pelham, N.Y. / Pelham Memorial) led GU with three caused turnovers while defensive midfielders
Patrick Aslanian (Westfield, N.J. / Westfield) and
Zachary Geddes (Winchester, Mass. / Belmont Hill / Phillips Andover) both caused two turnovers and led the way with five groundballs each.
Freshman
James Reilly (Berwyn, Pa. / Conestoga) won 12 of 22 trips to the faceoff 'X'.
The first quarter got off to a slow start as the game was scoreless through the first seven minutes of action before Sacred Heart got on the board at the 13:02 mark. Georgetown evened things up less than three minutes later on Bucaro's first goal before the Pioneers retook the advantage with back-to-back goals to lead 3-1. Watson's first collegiate goal, coming off a Bucaro helper, with 29 ticks remaining in the quarter pulled the Blue & Gray within one, trailing 3-2.
In the second, three different Hoyas found the back of the net with Carraway evening the score at 3-3 courtesy of a Bucci assist less than two minutes into the frame. Georgetown took its first lead at the 6:37 mark behind Elders' score but SHU answered right back 55 seconds later. Clark would give GU the lead going into the break, scoring with 2:14 remaining in the half off of Bucaro's third assist of the half.
Georgetown's offense took control in the third, outscoring the Pioneers 5-2 in the stanza. The Hoyas controlled the faceoff battle with 6-of-8 victories at the 'X' and outhustled SHU with 12 ground balls to its two. Sacred Heart scored the opening goal of the quarter but GU responded with five of the next six goals to take a 10-6 lead with 15 minutes to play. Wittenberg broke the 100 career point plateau in a span of 63 seconds to close out the frame. He scored his first goal of the season off a Carraway pass with 1:11 remaining and was credited with an assist on Bucaro's man-up goal with just eight seconds remaining in the period.
Sacred Heart kept attacking in the final frame but the Hoyas had an answer for every goal. Goals from Bucaro, Wittenberg and Carraway helped seal the victory for the Blue & Gray.
Joe Saggese led Sacred Heart with five goals and two assists. Brooks Dutton collected nine saves and allowed 13 goals in a full 60 minutes of action.
The Hoyas are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 16 as they return to the friendly confines of Cooper Field for a matchup against Robert Morris at noon.
