With the regular season title up for grabs, the GW women’s lacrosse team fell short at Temple Sunday, losing 11-10 in overtime. The team secured a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championship last weekend and will be the three seed in the four-team tournament.
“Overall they are disappointed,” head coach Chrissy Lombard said. “But they are excited that they could get a second chance.”
The Colonials will face Duquesne in the opening round of the tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Richmond, Va. GW lost to the Dukes earlier this season 9-8 in overtime at the Mount Vernon Athletic Complex.
“In my opinion it’s always harder to beat the same team twice,” Lombard said. “The first game was pretty close and the teams are even. I think the team who shows the most heart will pull through.”
GW had won four consecutive games but could not overcome the Owls, which they have never beaten.
Trailing 9-5 in the second half, the Colonials got things going by scoring four consecutive goals. Sophomore Laura Hostetler scored three of the four goals.
With the score tied at nine, Temple grabbed the lead with a goal at the 26:15 mark. GW senior Heidi Mayer responded with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, tying the score at 10-10.
The two teams went to the overtime period where the Owls scored just one goal. With 2:47 remaining in the period, Allison Fregs notched her fifth goal of the game, giving Temple the lead.
In the loss, Caitlin Garman made a career-high 11 saves. The freshman has won three consecutive A-10 Rookie of the Week awards.
Hostetler finished with four goals and one assist while Mayer finished with two goals and three assists.
“Laura made smart decisions and was patient because they were marking her out during the game,” Lombard said. “Laura and Heidi worked off each other really well and stepped up for us when we needed it.”
Lombard said the Colonials will go back to basics to tweak their game this week.
“We are going back to the basics this week like taking care of the ball and collecting ground balls,” Lombard said. “We got the big picture down but we need to work on the little things.”
