Washington, D.C. – With 19 minutes remaining in the BIG EAST Women's Lacrosse Championship Game, the top-seeded Georgetown University Hoyas (12-5) found themselves staring at an eight-goal deficit. Instead of giving up, the squad put together an impressive six-goal run while holding the third-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-4) scoreless. Unfortunately, time was not on GU's side as the Hoyas' comeback fell short and Georgetown lost, 12-10, falling in its third consecutive BIG EAST Championship Game.

"I give all the credit to Notre Dame in the first half," said Georgetown Head Coach Ricky Fried. "They came out with energy and passion that we didn't match. When you dig yourself a hole against a quality opponent, it's going to be difficult to get out of that."

The Irish dominated the first half opening with a 4-0 run. The Hoyas finally got on the board at 11:19 with an unassisted shot from Allie Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J./Oak Knoll). The more than 20-minute drought marked the longest GU had gone without a goal to start a game this season.

Notre Dame came back with four more as Georgetown continued to allow the Irish to cut through the middle setting up solid UND looks. With 3:28 remaining in the half, Jacqueline Giles (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) rolled to her right and shot but once again the Irish came back with two more before the break to make it 9-2 going into half. The two goals were Georgetown's second lowest first-half total of the season.

Jordy Kirr (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr Academy) scored less than two minutes in to start the second as the Hoyas tried to chip away at the huge deficit. A loose ball was slid in by Notre Dame's Jillian Byers during a scramble but Molly Ford (Reisterstown, Md./Notre Dame Prep) notched her first goal of the game a few minutes later as she got it past the keeper while falling to the ground.

Draw controls were the key to the second half as Georgetown won 11 of 12 draw controls in the period and 17 of 24 in the game. With possession consistently coming to GU the Hoyas took advantage to get back into the game.

UND posted two more before Kirr hit her second of the day igniting a six-goal run. Ashby Kaestner (Trappe, Md./Saints Peter and Paul) scored at 13:17, Kirr then hit a runner and Ford notched an unassisted tally along with one more from Kirr to pull within three.

Kirr continued to spark excitement assisting on a goal by Mary Beth Brophy (Berwyn, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) as the Irish began to stall. Leaving the net open to force a shot, GU forced a turnover and got an attempt from Ford, but keeper Erin Goodman came up with the save. The Hoyas tried to get more chances but couldn't connect falling just short by a score of, 12-10.

"We played to our ability in the second half and had a sense of urgency," said Fried. "We couldn't be picky with shot selection and with time running out we couldn't worry about making mistakes. We were great on draw controls which made the difference during our run."

Kirr and Ford each had three goals in the game while Kaestner, Giles, Hubschmann and Brophy each had one. Kirr also added an assist to lead the Hoyas with four points. Byers and Gina Scioscia each had five points for Notre Dame. UND outshot GU 28-27, had three more saves and one more ground ball.

Four players from Georgetown were named to the all-tournament team. Kaestner, Ford, Kirr and senior defender Bridget noon (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) were members of the 13-person squad.

GU will have one more regular season game, closing out the year with Yale on Saturday at Multi-Sport Field. The game is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m., and will have live stats and a webcast featuring Chuck Timanus available on the Georgetown University athletic website.

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2009-04-26