EMMITSBURG — A little success got to the Mount St. Mary's men's lacrosse team.
The Mountaineers staked themselves to a 3-1 lead early in the second quarter, but couldn't keep up with a 6-0 run by Georgetown that led to an 11-5 victory for the visiting Hoyas on Wednesday at Waldron Family Stadium.
Redshirt sophomore attackman Bubba Johnson paced Mount St. Mary's with two points on two assists, and freshman goalkeeper Matt Vierheller made 12 saves. But their efforts couldn't prevent the team from falling to 1-3, with all three losses occurring on its home turf.
The early lead and subsequent collapse evoked memories of the Mountaineers' 3-0 advantage against Delaware on Feb. 24 that the Blue Hens overcame with a 10-2 run en route to an eventual 11-10 win.
"We had a little bit of a lead and were playing good lacrosse and sharing it, executing the game plan on both ends of the field that my staff and I put together," coach Tom Gravante said. "We just lost that momentum at times because we're not disciplined. There were a lot of [Georgetown] goals that happened that started with bad possessions on offense. We're a little bit young down there still. We're still growing, but some things are fundamental that we need to fix."
The Mount offense unleashed a game-high 35 shots, but 15 of those attempts were turned aside by Hoyas freshman goalie Nick Marrocco. Mount St. Mary's also whiffed on three extra-man opportunities, including two in the pivotal second quarter when Georgetown made its run.
"That hurts," Johnson said. "We're up a man there and we can't even get a good look at the net. That was deflating. … We got opportunities, and we've got to make the most of them."
The Hoyas (2-2) opened the scoring with a goal from freshman attackman Stephen Quinzi with 11:50 remaining in the first quarter, but the Mountaineers roared back.
Johnson spotted freshman attackman Mike Moynihan cutting down the right alley, who accepted Johnson's pass and beat Marrocco high with 9:19 remaining.
Then with 2:32 left in the period, junior midfielder Evan Gormley shrugged off a stick check from senior short-stick defensive midfielder Mitch Hugdahl, continued his doge from the left point to the right point, and fired the ball past Marrocco.
Redshirt sophomore long-stick midfielder Tommy Lyons gave Mount St. Mary's its 3-1 advantage with 11:02 left in the second quarter after collecting a centering pass from Johnson and sticking one from the slot.
But after that, Georgetown took control and never ceded it. They scored five times in a 6:38 span to close out the half with a 6-3 advantage and opened scoring in the third quarter with a goal from Quinzi with 9:11 remaining.
When redshirt sophomore Robert Jones whizzed a shot from the right point past Marrocco, the goal ended a 21:17 drought for the Mountaineers. Georgetown scored the next three goals to put the game out of reach.
Quinzi paced the Hoyas with a game-high three goals, and senior attackman Reilly O'Connor posted three assists. Senior attackman Bo Stafford and freshman midfielder Ryan Hursey each scored twice.
Coach Kevin Warne, a former assistant coach at Maryland, was pleased to see his team bounce back from that early deficit.
"I think we just battled," he said. "I think we just did what we needed to do. I thought we shot a lot better. I thought in the first quarter, we got shots, but we just didn't shoot the ball to good spots. But I thought we started to dodge with a little more authority, understand what they were trying to do, and we ran by some people, cleared our hands, and put them in good spots."