WASHINGTON – Georgetown University's 14th-ranked men's lacrosse team dropped a 9-8 decision to visiting Marquette in the BIG EAST opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon. The Hoyas (7-2, 0-1 BIG EAST) rallied from a seven-goal deficit to pull within one but couldn't complete the comeback attempt.

The game marked the sixth one-goal game between the Hoyas and the Golden Eagles (5-3, 1-0 BIG EAST) in eight total contests for the series history. Including Saturday, the last four games have all been decided by one goal and three of those four games finished with an identical 9-8 score.

Daniel Bucaro (East Setauket, N.Y. / Ward Melville) and Lucas Wittenberg (Kennesaw, Ga. / Harrison / Mercer) both tallied three goals and an assist to lead the Hoyas while Jake Carraway (Annapolis, Md. / St. Mary's) chipped in a goal and an assist. Declan McDermott (Pleasantville, N.Y. / Pleasantville) added a lone goal for the Blue & Gray as well.

With his four-point performance, Bucaro moved into a tie for third place all-time at Georgetown in career points with 188 (124G, 64A). He passed Andy Flick ('00) to move into a tie with Paul Murphy ('85) and is now just one goal shy of second all-time on the Hilltop with Chris Remington ('95).

Defensively, the Hoyas were credited with 11 caused turnovers with three coming from Gibson Smith (Pelham, N.Y. / Pelham Memorial) and two each from Patrick Aslanian (Westfield, N.J. / Westfield) and Zachary Geddes (Winchester, Mass. / Belmont Hill / Phillips Andover). In goal, Owen McElroy (Ridgewood, N.J. / Ridgewood / Avon Old Farms) collected 14 saves between the pipes. Georgetown held Marquette scoreless for the final 26:30 of the game.

A tightly contested opening frame saw limited scoring as the Hoyas got on the board first at the 10:28 mark courtesy of Carraway's goal. The Golden Eagles responded at the 6:14 mark to even the score, but the Hoyas used Wittenberg's first goal of the game just over two minutes later to take a 2-1 lead after the first quarter.

The remainder of the game was split in two parts, each dominated by one team. Marquette used a 6-0 second quarter to take a 7-2 lead going into the break, and scoring the first two goals of the second half to take a commanding 9-2 lead at the 11:30 mark.

It was all Georgetown from there as the Hoyas blanked Marquette the rest of the game. The Blue & Gray closed out the game with six unanswered goals to pull within one with 4:20 left to play. Both teams had their chances down the stretch, but timely ground balls from MU in the waning minutes helped the Golden Eagles run out the clock and salvage the victory.

Tanner Thomson led Marquette with three goals on the day. John Hulsman earned the victory between the pipes with a 12-save performance.

Georgetown heads west to take on No. 15 Denver on Saturday, March 30 in Colorado.