The Streak Is Over: RV Georgetown 10, #9 Marquette 9

Craig Berge scored the go-ahead goal with 3:45 remaining and Georgetown handed #9 Marquette their first loss of the 2015.  The Golden Eagles fall to 7-1 on the season and 0-1 in Big East play, while Georgetown moves to 6-3 and takes the early lead in the conference at 1-0.

Berge got the chance to score because of concurrent unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Marquette.  One was issued to senior attackman Jordan Greenfield, while the other one was assessed to the Marquette bench.  Head coach Joe Amplo had this to say after the game:

I'm sorry for them that my actions and the decisions that the referees made didn't give those guys an opportunity to win the game.  Georgetown could have won if we played out even-even the rest of the way.  That didn't cost us the game.  It cost us an opportunity to compete to win the game there at the end, there's no question.

According to Jack Goods of the Marquette Tribune, Amplo's penalty was a result of his reaction to the referees not granting Marquette a time out that he was attempting to call.  It stands to reason that Amplo's reaction was also due to Greenfield getting rung up after Amplo had started to call for the time out.  Those two penalties sent both Greenfield and Kyran Clarke to the sidelines and forced the Golden Eagles to defend for 60 seconds down two men.  They killed off 52 seconds of that time, but eventually Berge got free for what turned into the game winner.

All told, it was quite the effort from the Golden Eagles to get the game tied in the first place.  Georgetown led 4-2 after the first quarter with goals from four different players.  One of them was Bo Stafford, who got the Hoyas rolling in the second quarter with his second of the game.  It turned into a 4-0 quarter for Georgetown with three more Hoyas - different ones that joined Stafford in scoring in the first - beat MU goalie Jimmy Danaher.  That made it 8-2 at the break, not to mention the first time that Marquette had trailed by more than four goals all season.

Marquette came out with something to prove in the third quarter, and a parade of familiar names started hacking into that Georgetown lead.  First Greenfield, then Conor Gately.  After a Stephen Quinzi goal stemmed the tide for a moment, Kyle Whitlow got on the board, and then Gately again.  That made it 9-6 heading to the fourth, and if you've been paying attention this season, a three goal deficit heading to the final period isn't anything to worry about for Marquette.

Greenfield potted his third of the game just 66 seconds into the fourth, and that was followed in methodical fashion by another strike from Whitlow, and then Blaine Fleming knotted the game at 9 with 6:07 remaining.  It was a wonderful comeback to follow via GameTracker, because I'm not falling for that $10 price tag for 24 hour access to Georgetown's streaming service.

After Berge's goal gave the Hoyas the lead, Marquette would end up with one final chance in the last 40 seconds.  The Golden Eagles were as patient as they could be, but it was Fleming's final shot that rang off the post with just seconds left, and Marquette was left to recover from the loss.

Conor Gately Watch: The junior attackman had two goals and two assists.  His second goal, which made the score 9-6, tied Tyler Melnyk's career points record.  Gately then got his second assist of the game on Marquette's very next goal, giving him sole control of the all time points record.  Again, Gately is a junior who has at least seven games left this season and all of next season to set a very high bar for the program going forward.

Up Next: First, figuring out how to react to a loss, as this squad hasn't done that yet this season.  Then, it's a trip to Pennsylvania next Saturday to square off with Villanova.  The #15 ranked Wildcats are 5-3 after losing 11-4 to Fairfield on Saturday, and this will be the first conference game of the year for them.