WASHINGTON – The No. 22 Georgetown University women's lacrosse squad led from wire-to-wire with a 21-3 win over the Butler University Bulldogs (3-8, 0-1 BIG EAST) on Saturday at the Butler Bowl in both teams BIG EAST Conference openers. With the win, the Hoyas improved to 7-4 on the season and 1-0 in league play.
 
"I was pleased with our performance, we competed really hard today and, overall, it was a complete team win," said Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried.
 
Junior midfielder Liza Liotta (Baltimore, Md. / St. Paul's School for Girl's) led the way with four goals, while senior attacker Taylor Gebhardt (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker) added a hat trick.  Junior attacker Michaela Bruno (Garden City, N.Y. / Garden City) and Morgan Ryan (Maplewood, N.J. / Oak Knoll School) had two goals and an assist each.  Senior midfielder Francesca Whitehurst (Baltimore, Md. / Roland Park Country School) and Natalia Lynch (Smithtown, N.Y. / Smithtown West) boasted a pair of goals apiece on the afternoon as 13 different players scored for the Blue & Gray.
 
Georgetown outshot Butler 38-11 and forced 17 turnovers while giving up 10 of its own. On the draw, GU pulled in 14 draw controls to the Bulldogs' 11. The Hoyas were also a perfect 20-for-20 on clears.  Senior goalkeeper Haelle Chomo (Naples, Fla. / Barron Collier) notched seven saves in the contest while junior goalkeeper Micheline DiNardo (Rye, N.Y. / Rye) had 24 minutes of action in the cage.
 
Gebhardt opened the scoring with a goal less than two minutes into the contest which would spark a 6-0 run to begin the game.  The senior had the first and sixth goals in the run, while Lynch sandwiched a Liotta goal and Whitehurst had one of her own.  Butler would find one more, but Georgetown came right back with scores from Whitehurst and Emily Ehle (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / Christian Brothers Academy) to make it 8-1.
 
Back-to-back goals by Bruno were followed by Ryan bookending a Liotta score as the Blue & Gray went into the half leading 13-2.
 
Liotta began the second half with two quick scores before an own goal made it 16-2 in favor of the Blue & Gray.  Gebhardt capped off the run with a goal at the 17:22 mark.
 
Butler's final goal of the contest came four minutes later before Georgetown staged a 4-0 run over the final nine minutes of action.   
Senior Mariah Matheis (Darien, Conn. / Darien), and freshmen Katie Crager (Berwyn, Pa. / Episcopal School), Annabelle Albert (Princeton, N.J. / Lawrenceville School) and Annabelle Zebrowski (Verona, N.J. / Oak Knoll) all contributed to make it 21-3 at the final horn.
 
The Hoyas will be back in action on Saturday as the squad hosts No. 15 Denver in another BIG EAST Conference matchup at Cooper Field.  Live stats and a webcast featuring Monika Moore will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.