Even two erased goals and a third quarter comeback couldn’t stop the UConn women’s lacrosse team on Wednesday afternoon, toppling the pesky Georgetown Hoyas 13-9 at home.
The contest started out all Huskies at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium, with leading scorer Kate Shaffer making her presence known once again. In the first five minutes of the game, Shaffer had two goals to her name. Fellow attacker Grace Coon followed up that early showing with two scores of her own, giving Connecticut a strong 4-0 lead to open the match.
Even down by four very quickly, this Georgetown team showed their resiliency, putting away two to cut their deficit in half to end the quarter.
In the second quarter, Morgan Carter wasted no time getting the Huskies ahead, notching her 11th goal on the year just 45 seconds in. Sharpshooter Rayea Davis followed that one up with a score of her own, her 16th to date. There would be late pushes from the Hoyas to regain some ground, but it was Shaffer who denied them the opportunity. She countered two Georgetown goals with two more for UConn, sending the Huskies to the break up 8-4, Shaffer matching the entire visiting team’s point total.
Out of the break, it was Davis who put away her second of the game off a free position shot, extending the lead to five at the time. Their backs against the wall, the Hoyas fought back in a big way, with a little bit of fortune on their side. Back to back goals from Erin Bakes cut the lead to two, but Shaffer notched her fifth of the game, this time from deep, leading to a typical Husky celebration.
Or so they thought. Goalkeeper Leah Warehime fell backwards into the net in an attempt to make the save, and after an official review the referees took the goal off the board, taking away Connecticut’s momentum. After yet another Hoyas goal a few minutes later to cut the lead to two, a similar occurrence would happen, with midfielder Lia Laprise finding the back of the net. That goal would too be called back, this time for a personal foul on Laprise. Things just weren’t going the Huskies way, and even on the road, Georgetown had momentum.
After a few minutes, the persistent UConn squad finally got their long-awaited goal, this time by Grace Coon’s stick, making a very timely 22nd goal of the season to close out the quarter on a strong note.
Already up three, Shaffer took it upon herself to put the game away, avenging her would-be fifth goal and tacking on a sixth for good measure to open up the quarter. Now down five, hope was lost for Georgetown, who would score twice in the final 10 minutes, but it was too little, too late. Davis found the net once more as well, earning herself a hat trick in the 13-9 UConn victory.
Coming up big for the Huskies, per usual, was goalkeeper Landyn White. The star goalie racked up 19 saves to nine goals allowed for an astounding save percentage of 67.9%. Things could have gotten much worse for UConn in the third, but White’s five saves to three goals allowed was massive for the team’s success.
With the win, the Huskies improved to 9-5 on the year and 2-2 in the Big East. Up next for Connecticut is a date with Butler on the road this weekend. That contest will be broadcast live on FloSports with stats provided by StatBroadcast.