WASHINGTON – Georgetown University's men's lacrosse team picked up its first win of the season over a nationally-ranked opponent with a 16-13 victory over No. 16/14 Villanova on Sunday afternoon in BIG EAST action. The Hoyas improve to 9-4 overall and even their league record to 2-2.
Jake Carraway (Annapolis, Md. / St. Mary's) led the Hoyas with five goals and a pair of assists,
Daniel Bucaro (East Setauket, N.Y. / Ward Melville) added four goals and two assists while
Lucas Wittenberg (Kennesaw, Ga. / Harrison / Mercer) chipped in three goals and three assists.
Declan McDermott (Pleasantville, N.Y. / Pleasantville) had a goal and an assist,
Robert Clark (Cooksville, Md. / McDonogh School),
Austin McDonald (Olney, Md. / Georgetown Prep) and
Dylan Watson (Guelph, Ontario / The Hill Academy) each had lone goals and
James Reilly (Berwyn, Pa. / Conestoga) added a pair of assists.
Reilly had a career day, winning 22 of 32 (.687) trips to the faceoff 'X' while collecting a career-high 12 ground balls.
Defensively,
Owen McElroy (Ridgewood, N.J. / Ridgewood / Avon Old Farms) hauled in 15 saves between the pipes for the win.
Gibson Smith (Pelham, N.Y. / Pelham Memorial) led all players with three caused turnovers to go with six ground balls.
Tucker Gillman (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shady Side / Avon Old Farms) added three ground balls while five other players collected a pair of GBs.
Georgetown found itself on the wrong side of a 5-1 score after the first quarter. Villanova (7-5, 2-1 BIG EAST) opened the game with three-straight goals before Carraway put the Blue & Gray on the board at the 9:08 mark. The Wildcats added another pair of goals down the stretch to hold a four-goal lead, their largest of the game.
Trading goals back and forth over the opening 5:27 of the second frame, VU held on to its four-goal advantage before a late rally by the Hoyas launched them back in contention. Georgetown scored three goals in the final 1:45 of the first half with scores from McDermott, Wittenberg and Bucaro to cut the halftime deficit to one at 7-6.
Coming out of the break, the Hoyas were determined to hold their home field advantage and struck early in the second half. Wittenberg and Bucaro scored the first two goals of the half, giving GU its first lead of the game, 8-7, at the 12:26 mark. Georgetown would hold the lead the rest of the stanza, utilizing goals from Watson, Clark and a pair from Carraway to take a 12-10 lead going into the final 15 minutes of action.
In the fourth, Carraway netted a man-up goal to start the quarter at the 13:55 mark and added what would eventually be the game-winner less than a minute later. With the Hoyas up 14-10, Villanova staged one final comeback attempt behind three-straight goals to make it 14-13, but GU won each ensuing faceoff as McDonald and Bucaro added goals in the final five minutes to seal the victory.
Patrick Daly led Villanova with four goals and an assist. Will Vitton had 15 saves in goal.
Georgetown closes out its road schedule and nonconference slate as it travels to face NJIT on Saturday, April 20 in Newark, N.J.
