MILWAUKEE – The third-seeded Georgetown University women's lacrosse team and its senior leadership defeated the second-seeded Marquette University Golden Eagles 17-10 in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship presented by Jeep on Thursday in Milwaukee, Wis. at Valley Fields. With the win the Hoyas move to 10-8 on the season and advance to the championship game for the first time since 2014.
 
"I'm proud of the seniors who led our team today both on the field and from the sidelines," said Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried.  "When your seniors put that much into it, people follow them and that made all the difference tonight."
 
Senior Francesca Whitehurst (Baltimore, Md. / Roland Park Country School) led the Hoyas with a career-high six goals along with two assists for eight points in the contest, she also pulled in five draw controls.  Earlier this week she was named the BIG EAST Co-Midfielder of the Year.  Classmates Taylor Gebhardt (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker) and Morgan Ryan (Maplewood, N.J. / Oak Knoll School) had five points and three points respectively.  Gebhardt managed four goals and one assist while Ryan had the hat trick. 
 
Georgetown outshot Marquette 33-20 and pulled in 17 draw controls to the Golden Eagles' 13.  The Hoyas forced 22 MU turnovers while committing 17. Senior goalkeeper Haelle Chomo (Naples, Fla. / Barron Collier) tallied seven saves in the contest and took the win in the cage.    
 
The Hoyas opened the scoring as Gebhardt connected on an unassisted tally.  The Golden Eagles answered off of the ensuing draw control, however, and two quick penalties put the Hoyas up two players.  Whitehurst found junior attacker Emily Ehle (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / Christian Brothers Academy) next to the cage for the first man-up score, and then Gebhardt hit a laser off of a free position to make it 3-1.
 
Marquette would come back with a goal, but Gebhardt continued to fight, spinning around her defender for the hat trick.  Whitehurst tallied her first of the game and then Gebhardt connected on her fourth of the game to make it 6-2 and force an MU timeout. 
 
Out of the timeout, MU scored but the Blue & Gray answered with a three-goal run.  Whitehurst scored on back-to-back goals for the hat trick before Ryan connected on a shot to make it 9-3 with 9:26 left in the first half.  The Golden Eagles would not go away as the squad came right back with a score.  It was freshman attacker Ali Diamond (Lafayette Hill, Pa. / Plymouth-Whitemarsh) who answered tallying a free position goal for the Hoyas. 
 
Two more goals in the run of play continued to build the lead for the Hoyas as Ryan hit her second of the game and junior attacker Michaela Bruno (Garden City, N.Y. / Garden City) curled around a defender to notch her first.  Georgetown would hold that lead going into the break with a 12-4 advantage.
 
Marquette opened the second half with back-to-back goals, but GU came right back.  Whitehurst buried one in the back of the cage, and then found Ryan for another goal to make it 14-6.  As the minutes ticked away, MU went on a 3-1 run to try to mount a comeback.  However, with 5:36 left Bruno spun around her defender and scored to make it 16-9 and force a Marquette timeout.
 
Over the final minutes, Whitehurst and MU would match each other as Georgetown cruised to the 17-10 victory.
 
The victory continued the league's history as the third-seeded team has defeated the second seed for the fifth-straight season as the second seed moved to 9-4 over the past 13 years. 
 
With the win the Hoyas now move on to the championship game where they will face top-seeded Denver on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET.  Saturday's game will be televised live on FS2 with Patrick Reed and Rich Donovan calling the action.  Live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.