NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Georgetown University's men's lacrosse team dropped a 19-16 decision to Yale in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The 13th-ranked Hoyas close out the season with a 13-5 record, tying the program mark for wins in a campaign.
Daniel Bucaro (East Setauket, N.Y. / Ward Melville) posted a career high eight goals to lead the Hoyas, setting the Georgetown record for goals in a season with 61.
Jake Carraway (Annapolis, Md. / St. Mary's) added four goals while
Robert Clark (Cooksville, Md. / McDonogh) had two and
Austin McDonald (Olney, Md. / Georgetown Prep) and
Dylan Watson (Guelph, Ontario / The Hill Academy) each found the back of the net as well.
Patrick Aslanian (Westfield, N.J. / Westfield) and
Lucas Wittenberg (Kennesaw, Ga. / Harrison / Mercer) had a pair of assists while Bucaro and Carraway both had one.
Gibson Smith (Pelham, N.Y. / Pelham Memorial) collected 10 ground balls, becoming just the fifth Hoya to collect 100 in a season. With 106 on the year, he has the third most in a campaign and holds the record for the most by a non-faceoff specialist. He was credited with a game high five caused turnovers as well.
In goal,
Chris Brandau (Timonium, Md. / Boys' Latin) hauled in 14 saves for the Blue & Gray.
Yale (13-3) opened the game on a 7-0 run, scoring two early goals in the first 1:13 of action. Watson put the Hoyas on the board at the 7:04 mark, collecting a pass from Bucaro to find the back of the net. The No. 3/4 Bulldogs would push their advantage to 9-1 in the frame before back-to-back goals from Bucaro to close out the stanza made it 9-3.
Bucaro notched his third goal of the game less than two minutes into the second period, but Yale responded 56 seconds later to hold a 10-4 lead. Carraway got on the scoreboard at the 11:09 mark off an assist from Aslanian to make it 10-5, but consecutive goals from Yale pushed the home team's advantage back to seven at 12-5. Bucaro wrapped up scoring in the half, muscling his way straight through the middle of the Bulldogs defense to beat the keeper one-on-one for the score and salvage a 12-6 deficit going into halftime.
Coming out of the break, Georgetown began to mount a comeback and scored the first three of the third quarter. Carraway netted the opening pair, followed by a score from Clark, to make it 12-9 with 7:12 remaining. Yale answered with consecutive goals, but the Blue & Gray responded in kind with back-to-back goals from Bucaro and Carraway to cut the deficit to three at 14-11 going into the final 15 minutes of action.
In the fourth, Yale put the game away behind five-straight goals to start the stanza to lead 19-11. The Hoyas closed out the game with five unanswered goals, including three more from Bucaro, but couldn't complete the comeback attempt.
Matt Brandau led Yale with four goals and an assist. TD Irelan won 31 of 35 faceoffs and Jack Starr hauled in 16 saves.
