Coming into Friday’s contest against Saint Joseph’s, lacrosse was searching for a victory after three straight losses hindered their hot 9–2 start to the season.
Despite a hat-trick from sophomore midfielder Katie Quinn and a program-record 25 saves from goalkeeper Jenna Oler, the Colonials (9-6, 2-5 A-10) dropped a tight contest 11–10 to the visiting Hawks (9-2, 5-2 A-10) Friday afternoon, extending GW’s losing streak to four games.
The Colonials entered the game tied for sixth place. With the top six teams qualifying for the Atlantic 10 tournament, the team now finds itself as the seventh seed struggling to make the mark with two games left in the season.
After conceding a quick goal to the Hawks less than a minute into the match, GW answered with five straight scores – two by Quinn – in an eight minute span to go ahead 5-1.
“I was really pleased with our execution in the beginning of the game,” head coach Tracy Coyne said. “Even though Saint Joseph’s scored within the first minute, we scored a lot of goals in the first half, and Jenna was exceptional today.”
The Hawks followed up quickly, netting three goals in just two minutes. After that run, the Saint Joseph’s offense went cold, with GW playing tight defense throughout the rest of the first half.
Senior attack Jocelyn Donohue scored her 100th career goal off a free position shot with 6:25 remaining to put the Colonials up 7-4.
“I can’t put into words how happy I am for Jocelyn,” Coyne said. “She’s worked so hard over the past four years, and she always puts the team ahead of her personal accomplishments. I know she would have rather had the win today than reach that milestone.”
Each team netted a goal before moving to the half. The Colonials went into the locker room with an 8-5 advantage and held the Hawks to just five goals on 18 shots in the first half, aided by 11 saves from Oler.
However, Saint Joseph’s flipped the script in the second half. The Colonials found themselves on their heels early and often as the visitors came out firing, netting three consecutive goals in the first seven minutes to even the score at 8-8.
The Colonials struggled to string together extended offensive possessions until about nine minutes had passed in the half, when Quinn scored her third goal of the afternoon. With the hat-trick, Quinn has now registered multiple goals in eight of the team’s 15 contests this season and ranks second on the team with 37 points tallied this season.
The 15-minute mark was a pivotal turning point in the second half. Off the rebound from a free position, Saint Joseph’s freshman attack Sam McGee took a groundball and fired a goal past Oler for the go-ahead score to put the Hawks ahead 10-9.
The Colonials could not find the back of the net, giving the Hawks numerous chances to extend their lead. With 5:13 left in the contest, Hawks sophomore midfielder Laura Lasprogata put the game on ice with a sweet free position shot to put Saint Joseph’s ahead by two goals.
Donahue converted a crucial goal for the Colonials with just over two minutes left in the contest to pull the Colonials to within one, but it was too little, too late.
Up next, they head to Pittsburgh to face Duquesne Sunday at 1 p.m.
