Men’s lacrosse: UVA wins on the road at Georgetown

The Virginia Cavaliers (7-7) earned a road win over the Georgetown Hoyas (2-11) on Saturday night, 8-7, at Cooper Field.

There wasn’t much action in the first quarter until Zed Williams scored unassisted with 2:17 left in the opening frame. Georgetown equaled the score on a Joe Bucci goal with 22 seconds left in the period, but not to be out down Michael Howard scored his first collegiate goal on the ensuing faceoff. The slow developing play came with four seconds left in the first quarter.

Bucci found nylon again for Georgetown with 11:21 left in the second half, tying the score at 2-2. UVA closed the first half with a 3-0 run, taking a 5-2 lead into the intermission. Ryan Lukacovic found James Pannell on the crease for a goal at 10:39 in the second. Matt Emery scored on an AJ Fish helper at 4:32 to continue the run. After a Georgetown failed clear, Lukacovic found Pannell again with one second left in the half to cap the run. The assist by Lukacovic was the 100th career point of the junior’s UVA career.

Georgetown started the second half on a 3-0 run to the tie the score at 5-5, including shutting out UVA entirely in the third quarter. A pair of Bucci goals bookended a Greg Galligan goal that came with 11:29 left in the third period. Bucci capped the run with 12:44 left in the game.

Pannell gave UVA the lead back at 11:26, and then Williams scored a man-up goal at 9:48, giving UVA a 7-5 advantage. Bucci scored his fifth goal of the game with 8:05 left to bring the Hoyas within one goal, 7-6. Williams scored again with the 30-second shot clock on with 4:06 left in the game to take an 8-6 lead.

Craig Berge scored with five seconds left for Georgetown, but it wasn’t enough as UVA held on for the victory.

UVA won the battle of shots (36-35) and faceoffs (9-8), while Georgetown had more ground balls (32-24) and saves (15-12). UVA had more turnovers (14-12).

Pannell and Williams each led UVA with three goals apiece.

Virginia returns to action next Saturday in the ACC – Brown Showcase in Kennesaw, Ga. UVA and No. 3 Brown faceoff at 7 p.m.