As one of three Division I men’s lacrosse teams still undefeated in mid-March, Georgetown certainly feels good about its prospects. With the schedule ramping up and Big East play soon to come, the Hoyas (6-0) are continuing their best start since 2003. As the No. 10 team in the nation, Georgetown is getting recognition it hasn’t enjoyed in years.
And in the eyes of sixth-year coach Kevin Warne, one of the more impressive features of this squad, besides its 13-senior core and its highly ranked offense and defense, is how unimpressed the Hoyas seem with themselves.
“Our guys have done a really good job of understanding that anyone can beat anyone in this game,” Warne said. “In college lacrosse now, every week is a challenge, and every opportunity is gold. They’ve done a good job to this point of staying grounded. We’ve learned something from every game.”
Georgetown, which travels to Drexel on Saturday then hosts to No. 9 Loyola next week before opening Big East play at Marquette on March 24, has yet to knock off a ranked opponent in 2018. The Hoyas’ recently postponed game against No. 16 Hofstra has yet to be rescheduled.
But this is shaping up to be Warne’s best team at Georgetown, where he entered 2018 with a 26-47 record over five seasons. That includes the Hoyas’ 10-6 finish in 2015, when they went 4-1 in the Big East and advanced to the conference tournament title game before losing to eventual NCAA champion Denver.
Led by attackmen Daniel Bucaro (21 goals, 11 assists) and Jake Carraway (19g, 12a) and fourth-year starting midfielder Craig Berge (17 points), the Hoyas are averaging 13.3 goals, fifth-best in Division I. Led by senior and fourth-year starting goalie Nick Marrocco (7.39 GAA, 58.2 percent), Georgetown’s defense is ranked seventh in scoring defense.
A year after losing to High Point, Georgetown won the season-opening rematch by 10 goals. The Hoyas battled through a second-half snowstorm and prevailed 12-11 in a back-and-forth shootout over surprising Robert Morris, which is off to a 4-2 start after destroying Marquette on Saturday 12-2.
Georgetown then got to 3-0 by snapping a four-game losing streak against Towson on Feb. 24, a day when the Tigers — one year removed from the NCAA tournament semifinals — took a 5-3 first-quarter lead and scored on four of their first five possessions. The Hoyas stared down Towson in a tense fourth quarter by scoring three times to head home with a 12-10 victory.
After dispatching Mount St. Mary’s, Marist and Hobart by a combined 20 goals, Georgetown has outscored its six opponents in the first half 44-21. The Hoyas are averaging 37 shots per game and have converted on nine of 20 extra-man chances (45 percent).
“Teams I’ve been a part of that have been really good find that balance between preparing for the next opponent and preparing themselves,” said Warne, who was an assistant on two such teams at Maryland before taking the Hoyas’ job. “Besides being an unselfish group that doesn’t care about the points as much as the W, we have been consistent by practicing and playing hard, going back to the fall. That sounds like a cliché, but it’s the reason good things are happening.”