NCAA 1ST ROUND May 16, 2004  |
NCAA 1ST ROUND May 16, 2004 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Behind a career-high five goals from senior Neal Goldman (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron), the Georgetown men's lacrosse team defeated Towson University, 15-8, in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon at Harbin Field.
Goldman and freshman attacker Trevor Casey (Bethesda, Md./Georgetown Prep) scored multiple goals for the Hoyas, and eight other Georgetown players contributed one goal apiece, as the team posted their second-highest goal total of the year, and most in an NCAA Tournament game since their second round victory over Duke in 1999, which the Hoyas won 17-14. The 15 goals are the most Georgetown has scored this season since April 28, when they defeated Mount St. Mary's 16-7.
Towson, which had claimed victories in their last three consecutive NCAA Tournament First Round appearances dating back to 2001, entered the contest with a two-game winning streak, and had won 10 of their last 11 games. The Tigers relied on senior midfielders Drew Pfarr and Brian Myers for most of their scoring Sunday, as the duo combined for half of the team's eight goals in the game.
Pfarr scored the contest's opening goal 3:33 into the game when he received a pass from sophomore attacker Steve Mull from behind the cage, and sneaked a shot past Georgetown goalkeeper Rich D'Andrea (Belle Mead, N.J./The Peddie School) into the lower right corner of the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 advantage.
That was the last the Tigers held the lead however, as Georgetown fired back 3:38 later when Sean Denihan (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset) received a quick pass from defenseman Reyn Garnett (Mt. Kisco, N.Y./Deerfield Academy) and shot the ball high into the net past Towson goalkeeper Reed Sothoron.
Sothoron made three impressive saves in the first quarter, including a low stop on a hard shot by senior midfielder Walid Hajj (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh), to keep the score close. The Hoyas' persistence on offense, which included 11 shots to Towson's four in the first quarter, eventually paid off when Goldman and Casey netted their first goals of the game 32 seconds apart in the contest's ninth minute to put the Hoyas up 3-1.
Pfarr scored his second goal of the day with 3:19 remaining in the first quarter, but that's as close as the Tigers would come, as the Hoyas used a goal by Peter Cannon (Haverford, Pa./The Haverford School) with 30 seconds left in the quarter, and later went on a 6-0 run starting midway through the second period until Bobby Griebe broke the Towson scoring drought with a goal 9:11 into the third quarter.
Georgetown outscored the Tigers in the first three quarters 11-4, before Towson matched the Hoyas' four-goal output in the game's closing frame to bring the score to 15-8. Sothoron ended the game with 14 saves, while D'Andrea made 12 stops in goal for the Hoyas.
Today's Georgetown win marks the first time in program history that the Hoyas have defeated Towson in men's lacrosse. The two teams played twice back in the 1970s, and the Tigers won both games by over a 10-goal margin.
Georgetown travels to the campus of Cornell University next Sunday, May 23rd, for a quarterfinals match against number four seed Syracuse at 3 p.m. This is the eighth consecutive year that the Hoyas are competing in the NCAA Tournament and Georgetown has a 1-4 all-time record in quarterfinal contests.
Towson's Jonathan Engelke to Matt Florio High Bandwidth
ACTION VIDEOS
Towson's Reed Sothoron High Bandwidth Only
Georgetown's Peter Cannon High Bandwidth
Towson's Peyton Chane High Bandwidth
Georgetown's Rich D'Andrea High Bandwidth Only
Towson's Reed Sothoron High Bandwidth Only
Georgetown's Sean Denihan to Neal Goldman High Bandwidth
Georgetown's Walid Hajj High Bandwidth
Georgetown's John Trapp to Keith Schroeder High Bandwidth
Georgetown's Mike White to Brice Queener High Bandwidth
Towson's Reed Sothoron High Bandwidth Only
Georgetown's D High Bandwidth Only
Georgetown's Kyle Morin to Neal Goldman High Bandwidth Only
Towson's Ben DeFelice to Bobby Griebe High Bandwidth
Georgetown's Andy Corno High Bandwidth Only
PHOTOGRAPHS
