This post was written by Hatchet reporter Joshua Solomon.
In its final game before A-10 play, GW (5-4) hosted No. 18 ranked Navy, but both teams took the field thinking about Seton Hill.
A bus carrying the women’s lacrosse team from Seton Hill crashed Saturday, killing its head coach Kristina Quigley. All players sported crimson and gold ribbons on their shoes as a tribute to the Seton Hill team, and some Navy players also painted their faces in the crimson and gold Seton Hill colors.
“We found out Saturday when we got on the bus after Hopkins,” head coach Tara Hannaford said. “We all couldn’t imagine anything like that happening so we really just wanted to pay our tributes to them. Lacrosse is a small family and we all care a lot about each other so we just wanted to make sure we are paying our respects to them and their families and all they’re going through right now.”
The two teams paid their tribute in a game that was the first time GW faced the Naval Academy. The 60 minutes of action was packed with physical play and swings of momentum that tilted in Navy’s way in the second half, when the Colonials fell 9-6.
The Colonials went down 5-2 with under 13 minutes left to play in the first half. The Midshipwomen seemed to have gained control of the game, until a 2-0 run over the next two minutes put the Colonials back into play.
Navy then went up 7-4 as the clock wound down in the first half. With less than a minute to play, the Colonials stayed patient with possession, ultimately leading to a Midshipmen yellow card. Following a miss off of the free position with 15.8 seconds to play, junior Terasa Vassallo, making her first home start of the season, scored off of a sophomore Jamie Bumgardner assist with 8.5 seconds to play, sending the GW bench into a roar.
“As a team, especially, we’re very proud of the way we worked for 60 minutes and can’t wait to go forth from here,” senior goalie, co-captain Jess Hicks, who recorded six saves said.
Ultimately, Vassallo matched her career high, netting three goals on the day. Bumgardner was also a strong performer for the Colonials with four points off of one goal and three assists.
GW scored the first goal of the second half after a small drought over its opening minutes. But the game would remain tight and physical. There were a total of 36 fouls by Navy and 27 by the Colonials. Furthermore, seven yellow cards were handed out, four to GW and three to the Midshipmen. As the frustrating play mounted, so, too did ball control problems- both teams finished the game with 17 turnovers.
“You got to take what you’re given and you to got to play with how it’s being called. I think it was pretty physical on both sides and it is what is is,” Hannaford said, discussing the refereeing.
The second leading scorer in the nation, Navy senior Jasmine DePompeo, was too much for the Colonials. She contributed to the first eight points the Midshipmen scored, recording four goal and four assists.
“We knew that as a team they like to work the crease,” Hicks said. “Unfortunately I couldn’t get to some of the shots. [DePompeo is] a really great shooter. But we definitely knew what she was going to come out and so we put a lot of time preparing for that.”
Despite the loss, Hannaford said the Colonials show promise heading into conference action. The team is showing better execution on both sides of the ball, she said, and have established solid building blocks for performance as it goes into A-10 play.
Both captains, Hicks and fellow senior Nicole Lacey, who scored two goals, are looking forward to A-10 competition, which begins on Friday at home against Richmond.
“We really wanted to use this game as a building block for A-10 [games] because this is our last regular season game so we went out with as much intensity as possible,” Lacey said.
