Georgetown Outlasts Yale 19-17 in a High-Scoring Thriller

Defense wins championships but offense wins fans.

Lacrosse surely gained a few new followers Saturday afternoon, as seventh-seeded Georgetown and Yale staged a high-scoring thriller in a nationally televised NCAA tournament first-round game at Cooper Field.

A year after they were stunned by Delaware in their postseason opener, the Hoyas summoned just that much more offensive firepower in a 19-17 victory over the punch-drunk Bulldogs in front of 1,683 sun-soaked fans.

Georgetown (13-3) will play second-seeded Virginia in the NCAA quarterfinals next Saturday at Albany.

Tewaaraton finalist Tucker Dordevic scored six goals, four of which came in the second quarter as the Hoyas stormed back from an 8-3 deficit to take a 10-9 lead at halftime.

Dordevic, a graduate transfer from Syracuse and one of four Georgetown players selected in the Premier Lacrosse League draft this week, has a school-record 63 goals this season. He surpassed Jake Carraway, Dylan Watson and Danny Bucaro for the No. 1 spot Saturday.

“He’s the best player in the country,” Georgetown coach Kevin Warne said on the ESPNU broadcast. “We gotta make sure to get him the ball.”

There was plenty to go around. Two other graduate transfers contributed in a big way, as Nicky Solomon (North Carolina) and Brian Minicus (Colgate) combined for nine goals and four assists. Solomon’s move to midfield has helped open up the Hoyas offense in recent weeks.

Yale led 6-3 after the first quarter, scoring on six of its first eight possessions and generating four goals from its midfield. The Bulldogs stretched the lead to 8-3 early in the second quarter.

Dordevic ended an eight-minute Georgetown scoring drought when he whizzed a lefthanded shot off the ground and the inside pipe. Eleven seconds later, Will Godine swooped in for a ground ball off the faceoff wing and took it to the house for his first goal of the season to make it 8-5.

Dordevic deposited two more goals off fast breaks, the second coming after an interception Dylan Hess legged the length of the field before finding him at the point to close within one at 8-7.

Each team committed six turnovers in the second quarter, though Yale’s proved costlier. The Bulldogs squandered two extra-man opportunities and the Hoyas capitalized on the other end both times.

Minicus tripped, regained his footing and spot-fed Graham Bundy Jr. cutting to the back pipe for goal to tie the game at 9.

Solomon kept the run going, streaking down the middle and depositing a feed from TJ Haley to put the Hoyas ahead 10-9.

“I knew we’d fight back,” Warne said. “This is playoff lacrosse. Up-tempo game. I’m sure the fans are enjoying the heck out of this one.”

Yale responded with its own run in the third quarter. Leo Johnson (three goals, two assists) led the charge, mirroring what Minicus was doing on the opposite end of the field with speed and change-of-direction dodges to get the defense off kilter.

The Bulldogs (9-6) scored six of the net seven goals to go back up 15-13. But Georgetown kept coming back. Reserve midfielder Aidan Carroll brought the Hoyas back within one, and then Bundy threw a low-to-high laser off a skip pass by Minicus to tie the game at 15 going into the fourth quarter.

The game was tied 10 times, including twice more in the fourth quarter. Georgetown got the last word. Minicus crashed the cage from X, changed direction and curled around the left side, tucking a shot up top to put the Hoyas ahead 18-17 with 3:49 remaining. A minute later, Solomon took advantage of a breakdown in the Yale defense during a delayed penalty, scoring to make it 19-17.

Georgetown’s Wallace Halpert (four caused turnovers) checked the ball away from Yale’s Matt Brandau (three goals, two assist) on the Bulldogs’ final possession to seal the win.

Chris Lyons led the Bulldogs with four goals, but ultimately the offense could not compensate for Yale’s 61st-ranked defense.

It was Georgetown’s first-ever win over the Bulldogs. The Hoyas came in 0-10 in the series, including a 2019 NCAA tournament first-round loss in which TD Ierlan set an NCAA record with 31 faceoff wins.

Playing injured, Georgetown faceoff specialist James Reilly went 15-for-29 on Saturday.