It was a battle against the weather and one of the nations’ best as Fairfield men’s lacrosse team fell to No. 2 Georgetown 10-5 on Alumni Field Saturday afternoon. The sleet and heavy rainfall moved the game from the big stage on Lessing Field, but fans and tailgaters alike showed up for what proves to be many more match-ups among the nation’s elite. The Stags got off to a good start netting the first goal of the game and scoring the only goal of the first quarter. But as the rainfall got heavier, the Stags cooled off and let Georgetown score four straight goals in the second quarter. Despite this, the Hoyas only held by two goals at halftime. Mike Kruger ’07 was mostly responsible for this as he had 12 saves on goal in the first 30 minutes of play. Georgetown continued to be offensively aggressive in the second half netting six goals in the final 30 minutes, half the amount scored by the Stags, putting them right on their season average of 10 goals per game. The Hoyas also kept the Stags under their average double digit goals, a feat they have accomplished with every team during their winning streak. “Georgetown is a good team, but if we played at the top of our game it would have been different,” said Kruger. “I think we had our opportunities to make it a better game. I think if our offense were stronger, it would have been a great game.” Kruger finished with 16 saves on goal, in comparison to Georgetown’s team total of two. Kruger is in the top ten in the league in saves with just over 11 per game. Five players scored a goal for the Stags despite the team being out-shot by the Hoyas 48-23. Josh Thornton ’06 was the leading scorer for the Stags with two points off a goal and an assist. “I’m pretty pleased with the way our guys played,” said head coach Ted Spencer. Our execution was rough, but our defensive effort was pretty good”. “I think they out-athleted us and their ball possessions were better than ours. The more opportunities you get on offense, the more opportunities you have to score.” The Stags best player Greg Downing ’07 in his second game back after missing three games because of an enlarged spleen, was held scoreless in six attempts on goal. Downing leads the league in goals scored with 20 and an average of almost three per contest in his seven games played this season. “Downing is doing just fine after coming back,” said Spencer. “I think this is the first time that he was held scoreless in his career with no points and no assists. We expect him to continue to be a marqui player in the country because when he gets going, the team rallies around that a little.” Georgetown entered the game on a seven game winning streak and undefeated in the conference. The Hoyas improved to 8-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference. The Stags entering the game were in a three-way tie for second place in the conference with Penn State and Loyola. Both Penn State and Loyola won their games over the weekend, so the Stags are now tied with for fifth place with Rutgers. The Stags are now 4-5 overall and 2-2 in conference play with three league games left to play. “Anything can happen if someone can knock off Penn State,” said Spencer. “We are still in the hunt and we can still finish in the top of the conference.” Fairfield is in the top four out of the eight teams in the ECAC conference averaging 16 points, 10 goals, and six assists per game. The Stags play their last non-conference road game at North Carolina on Saturday. The final home game for the Stags is against conference opponent Loyola on April 22.
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