With a dominant second half, No. 3 seed Denver upset second-seeded Georgetown 12-7, avenging its one-goal loss to the Hoyas on April 4. With the win, the Pioneers advance to the Big East championship Saturday to face No. 1 Florida in the swamp.
Georgetown got on the board first, with a Taylor Gebhardt tally less than four minutes in, but Denver used a five-goal run, with two apiece from Quintin Hoch-Bullen and Elizabeth Behrins, to take a 5-1 lead at the 11:16 mark. The Hoyas responded with a three-goal spurt to end the first half.
The Pioneers then opened the second period with back-to-back scores, followed by another three-goal run for Georgetown.
Yet it was Denver who ran out the half, finishing the game with five straight goals and holding the Hoyas scoreless in the final 22 minutes.
Behrins led the Denver offense with five points on four goals and an assist, while Hoch-Bullen and Eliza Radochonski had four points each.
While Georgetown won the draw battle 13-9, Denver outshot the Hoyas 32-20 and secured more ground balls, 26-15.
The Pioneers’ championship opponent had an easier path to the final on its home turf, cruising past No. 4 seed Marquette 19-8 three hours earlier on Thursday.
The win advanced the Gators to their fourth straight Big East title game in record fashion.
Lindsey Ronbeck tied the conference tournament record for most goals in a half – five in the first period – and set the record for most goals in the game. She finished with eight goals, which is the most by any player in Big East tournament history and tied Florida’s program record. With 19 career goals in the tournament, she passed the previous mark of 18 set by Georgetown’s Molly Ford.
Meanwhile, Cara Trombetta added five caused turnovers to push her single season record to 35 and freshman Sabrina Cristodero broke the single season record for draw controls with 11 in the game to make her total 110 so far in 2018.
Saturday’s Big East championship is set for noon on FS2.