April 29, 2007

Syracuse, N.Y. - The No. 1 seeded Georgetown University women's lacrosse team (10-6, 4-1 BE) entered the first-ever BIG EAST Championship ranked tenth in the IWLCA poll and ninth in the Inside Lacrosse poll. The Hoyas won their final two home games to gain some momentum en route to their visit to the Carrier Dome this weekend.

Georgetown posted a 12-10 win over No. 4 seed Notre Dame on Friday in the BIG EAST Semifinals to advance to Sunday's first-ever BIG EAST Championship Game. Today's winner between the Hoyas and No. 2 seed Syracuse will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The first draw control is set for 2:30 p.m.

With Friday's victory, the Hoyas avenged an earlier loss to the Irish after ND topped GU, 13-8 in South Bend on April 13. The loss snapped Georgetown's 37-game BIG EAST regular-season winning streak.

Live stats for today's title game are available at www.bigeast.org and www.guhoyas.com. Today's game will be televised on College Sports Television (CSTV) in addition to a simulcast on BIG EAST All-Access at www.bigeast.tv. for a fee of $9.95. Jason Knapp and Sheehan Stanwick Burch will be calling the action.

With Georgetown's 15-9 win over Connecticut last Sunday, the Hoyas secure their seventh consecutive BIG EAST regular season title.

Regardless of this weekend's outcome, the Hoyas will play their regular-season finale next Sunday, May 6 at Princeton at 1p.m.

The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for Monday, May 7 and will air exclusively online at www.ncaasports.com. Georgetown's RPI (61.32) currently ranks ninth in the nation.

Schedule Strength ... The Hoyas have a strength of schedule ranked No. 3 by www.laxpower.com. All six of the Hoyas losses have come against ranked teams with four losses coming at the hands of No. 2 Duke (12-11), at No. 2 North Carolina (8-6), No. 3 Maryland (14-10) and No. 5 Virginia (14-7). The Hoyas held three-goal leads vs. UNC and Duke.

Scouting the Orange ... Syracuse has won its last five games and nine of its last ten with its only loss coming at top-ranked Northwestern, 10-7 on March 29. The Orange boasts five different players who have more than 30 goals, Katie Rowan (47 G), Christina Dove (40), Halley Quillinan (41) and Ashley Pike (39).

Series with the Orange ... The Hoyas have never lost to Syracuse (10-0) including a 9-8 overtime earlier this season in the BIG EAST opener for both schools. Georgetown has posted a 4-0 record over Syracuse in games played in the Carrier Dome. GU has scored at least ten goals in their meetings with the Orange in all but one game, a 9-8 overtime win this season.

Quick Hits ... As annunced at the pre-tournament banquet, Coco Stanwick was named BIG EAST Attacker of the Year, Maggie Koch was named BIG EAST Defender of the Year while the duo was also named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. Senior Laura Cipro was also named all-conference First Team and junior midfielder Patty Piotrowicz was named all-league Second Team.

-- Senior Schuyler Sutton has recorded a point in 22 of the last 23 games dating back to last season. Sutton posted a career-high five goals in the win over GW and ranks second on the team with 29 goals while ranking fourth on the squad with 33 points. Sutton's 29 goals this season already surpassed her total of 24 markers in 2006.

-- Senior defender Laura Cipro played all 60 minutes in Friday's semifinal win over Notre Dame despite breaking her nose in a freak collision during practice on Thursday.

-- Freshman Ashby Kaestner has posted a hat trick in two of the last four games and has six of her 10 goals in the last week and a half.

-- Senior Maggie Koch averaged 9.1 saves in the last seven games. Koch now has made eight or more saves in ten different games and notched double-figure saves six times. Koch ranks 13th in the land yielding a 9.1 goals-against-average.

-- The Hoyas scored 33 goals last week, their highest scoring two-game stretch of the season and its highest scoring stretch since mid-April 2003 (34 goals).

-- Georgetown had a season-high eight players score a goal at Loyola and the Hoyas held the Greyhounds scoreless in the second half.

-- Sophomore midfielder Megan Bloomer earned her first collegiate start at George Mason and has started in each of the last 11 games. Bloomer has four goals and three assists in the last six games and she has 10 of her 18 ground balls during the span. Bloomer has totaled has eight points on the year and ranks fourth on the team with 18 ground balls.

-- Senior Coco Stanwick had 14 points, including 11 goals while helping the Hoyas to a 2-0 week to go along with 18 draw controls and one caused turnover and was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. Stanwick has multi-points in every game this season and the Baltimore native has posted at least five points in 11 different games this year. She leads the team with 58 goals, 23 assists, 81 points and 75 draw controls. Stanwick ranks fifth in the country with 4.94 points per game and 3.53 goals per game and her 4.7 draw controls per game ranks second in the country. She has been named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week three times this season and ten times in her career. Stanwick is one of 17 nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy.

-- Senior defender Laura Cipro ranks second on the team with 23 ground balls and ranks third on the team with 12 caused turnovers.

-- The Hoyas have only trailed at halftime three times this season, 9-4 vs. No. 3 Maryland, 9-3 at Virginia and 6-4 at Notre Dame. Georgetown lost all three of those games. The Hoyas were tied at the half vs. Syracuse and James Madison.

-- The senior class trio of Coco Stanwick, Brittany Baschuk and Schuyler Sutton have combined for 273 shots and 113 goals. That makes up 55 percent of the team's shots and 62 percent of the team's goals have come from the three senior attackers.

Steady Stanwick ... Senior attacker Coco Stanwick has continued her spectacular career. The Baltimore native leads the team with 58 goals, 23 assists, 81 points and 75 draw controls. Stanwick's 81 points is the third highest single-season point total in school history and her best in four years. Stanwick already ranks among the school's top three in points (277), goals (194), assists (84) and draws (194). Her 119 draws last season set a new NCAA single-season record.