MILWAUKEE – The Georgetown University women's lacrosse team came back from a 6-0 deficit to the Denver University Pioneers in the BIG EAST Championship to win in double overtime, 9-8. The Hoyas held the Pioneers scoreless throughout the second half and both overtime periods and scored five unanswered goals to win their first championship since 2010 and earn the 15th NCAA tournament berth in program history.
 
Senior Francesca Whitehurst (Baltimore, Md. / Roland Park Country School) tallied two goals in the contest, including the game-winning goal. Michaela Bruno (Garden City, N.Y. / Garden City) and Taylor Gebhardt (Baldwinsville, N.Y. / C.W. Baker) also netted two goals while Ali Diamond (Lafayette Hill, Pa. / Plymouth-Whitemarsh) and Gebhardt lead the Hoyas with three points each. Goalkeeper Haelle Chomo (Naples, Fla. / Barron Collier) notched eight saves.
 
Georgetown and Denver traded defensive stops in the opening minutes but it was the Pioneers who broke the tie in the seven minutes in as Bea Behrins buried her shot past Chomo. Audrey Schreck pulled in the draw for DU and the Pioneers converted 23 seconds later to go up with an early 2-0 lead and force a Georgetown timeout.
 
The Pioneers went on a four goal run over the next five minutes including back-to-back free position goals to give Denver the 6-0 lead at the halfway mark in the first half.
 
Diamond tallied the first Hoya point of the contest as she spun around her defender and fired a shot past Carson Gregg to make it 6-1 with 13:46 remaining in the half. Georgetown rallied as Mary Pagano (Short Hills, N.J. / Pingry School) scored her tenth goal of the season 39 seconds later. Denver broke the Hoya run with a goal from Quintin Hoch-Bullen with 9:32 remaining but GU answered with two more from Bruno and Gebhardt to cut the lead to three. With 1.8 seconds on the clock, Behrins scored her second of the day and gave Denver the 8-4 advantage going into half.
 
Georgetown came out firing in the second half and took advantage of two free position opportunities as Morgan Ryan (Maplewood, N.J. / Oak Knoll School) and Gebhardt each converted to give the Hoyas three free position goals in the contest. With Denver leading 8-6, Whitehurst scored her first of the day to cut the lead to one and force a Pioneers timeout.
 
The Hoyas continued their second half run as Bruno scored her second unassisted goal of the contest and tied the game 8-8 with 9:51 left to play. Georgetown held the Pioneers to a scoreless half while going on a four goal run to force the game into the sudden victory overtime period. At the end of regulation, GU and Denver were tied at 24 shots each.
 
Just 45 seconds into the first overtime period, a yellow card was issued to Mollie Miller (Alexandria, Va. / Saint Stephens & Saint Agnes), but Denver couldn't convert on the free position shot. GU took possession and charged down the field but neither team could finish its chances as the game advanced into a second six-minute overtime period.
 
With 1:40 left to play in the first half of the second overtime, Denver's Hannah Liddy was issued a yellow card and the Hoyas went a man up. With time winding down, GU set up its offense as Gebhardt fed Whitehurst at the top of the arc. Whitehurst charged the net and finished the game-winning shot over Chegg's left shoulder.
 
Five Hoyas were named to the All-Tournament Team including Bruno, Chomo, Miller, Gebhardt and Whitehurst while Whitehurst was named the BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
 
The NCAA women's lacrosse tournament selection show will take place at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 5 and will be shown at NCAA.com.