March 27, 2008

Washington, D.C. - The No. 8 ranked Georgetown University women's lacrosse team (7-1, 2-0 BE) travels to the midwest this weekend and plays at No. 1 Northwestern (8-0, 1-0 ALC) on Friday night, March 28 on the Wildcats' Lakeside Field in Evanston. The first draw control is set for 8 p.m EST. Live video can be seen at www.nusports.com. Live stats will be available at both www.nusports.com and www.guhoyas.com.

Georgetown will be playing the nation's top-ranked team for the first time under fourth-year head coach Ricky Fried. Under Fried's tutelage, the Hoyas have taken on the No. 2 ranked team two times, at No. 2 UNC last season (L, 8-6) and at No. 2 Duke in 2006, (L, 10-8).

On Saturday, the Hoyas will fly to Louisville, Kentucky and play at Louisville on Sunday, March 30. Start time is 1 p.m. EST. The Cardinals are 7-2 overall in their inaugural season and have wins over Bryant, Manhattan, Robert Morris, LaSalle, Lafayette, Villanova and Virginia Tech. U of L's defeats came at Saint Joseph's, 9-8 and at Rutgers, 13-12. Louisville head coach Kellie Young is a former Georgetown assistant coach who roamed the sidelines on the Hilltop from 1999-2002. Louisville plays a partial BIG EAST schedule this season and will participate as a full-time women's lacrosse member of the BIG EAST in 2009.

Schedule Strength ... The Hoyas have a strength of schedule ranked No. 1 in the nation by www.laxpower.com. Georgetown, Duke, Hopkins, Virginia, Northwestern, Dartmouth and North Carolina are separated by mere percentage points in the rankings.

Series with NU & Louisville ... Northwestern and Louisville have met just one other time. Northwestern raced past the Hoyas 12-1 on April 10, 1989. A handful of current Hoyas had not been born yet when that game was played.

Sunday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Georgetown and Louisville.

"Friends of Jaclyn" Challenge ... Friday's game vs. NU will be the second annual "Friends of Jaclyn" Pediatric Brain Tumor Awareness Lax Challenge. Both Georgetown and Northwestern have adopted children diagnosed with brain tumors. The Hoyas have adopted 16-year old Alli Mendofik while the Wildcats have adopted 13-year old Jaclyn Murphy. The teams are two of a host of NCAA institutions that have joined forces to raise public awareness for pediatric brain tumors. One hundred percent of Friday's pre-purchase gate will go towards the foundation. More information can be found at www.friendsofjaclyn.org.

Quick Hits ... Georgetown saw six players make their first career starts over the first two games of the season, including sophomore GK Caitlin Formby.

-- 82 of the team's 95 goals have been scored by underclassmen this season.

-- The Hoya freshman class, the class of 2011 was the No. 1 ranked recruiting class in the nation according to Inside Lacrosse Magazine. Seven of the 11 players were Under Armour All Americans.

-- Backup goalie Lauren Thomas has seen action in two games. Thomas came off the bench, playing the final 7:35 in the season opeing win at GW, making three saves, including two in the final 32 seconds as the Hoyas held on for a win over the Colonials.

-- Georgetown raced out to a 9-1 lead in both the Mason and Loyola (Md.) games. The Hoyas have outscored their opponents, 41-28 in the first half.

-- The Hoyas have trailed at halftime only twice (at Denver, 6-5 and at Duke, 7-5). GU was tied 4-4 at halftime against Rutgers.

-- The Blue and Gray has allowed two or fewer goals in a half on five different occasions.

-- Junior midfielder Megan Bloomer has six goals this season and leads the team with 21 draw controls. Her six goals almost equals the seven goals she tallied in her first two seasons, combined.

-- The defensive unit of senior Ameila Wesselink and juniors Katie Burton, Bridget Noon and Jordan Trautman have started in all eight games.

-- Northwestern has the nation's highest scoring offense (19.7 gpg) while the Hoyas rank 17th in the country, allowing 8.7 goals per game. GU ranks sixth in the land, averaging almost 12 caused turnovers per game.

-- The Hoyas graduated 10 players from last season's team and 62 percent of its scoring output, including All Americans, attacker Coco Stanwick and goalie Maggie Koch.

Ashby Kaestner Making an Impact ... Sophomore midfielder Ashby Kaestner has stormed out of the gate thus far. She has started in every game this season and leads the team and ranks 16th in the nation with 37 points. Her 4.6 points per game ranks 14th in the country She has eight straight multi-goal games and posted a career-high six goals in the season-opening win at GW. Twenty-two of her 32 goals have come in the second half of games and she netted the game-winning goal at GW, at No. 15 Denver, at Hopkins and vs. William & Mary.

Kaestner was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Feb. 5 after tallying 11 goals in the season's first two games, surpassing the 10 goals she netted during her entire freshman season.

Kaestner was recently named to the Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List.

Built Molly Ford Tough ... Sophomore attacker Molly Ford ranks second on the team with 32 points on 22 goals and 10 assists. Ford has at least three goals in six of the team's eight games this season.

Ford was named BIG EAST Offensive player of the Week after totaling five goals on seven shots in the Hoyas's 14-7 win against No.17 George Mason.

She was held without a point only once, against William & Mary.

Jordy Jumpstarting the Offense ... Freshman Jordy Kirr has started in seven of the first eight games and handed out 21 assists already.

Kirr, who was highly-touted coming out of high school, ranks third on the team with 29 points.

Kirr has posted five multi-assist games this season and already ranks 14th on Georgetown's single-season assist list with at least eight games to go.

Showing Her Form-by ... Sophomore goalkeeper Caitlin Formby has started in all eight games thus far after playing behind All-American Maggie Koch last season.

Formby saw just 5:29 worth of playing time as a freshman but has posted a 8.25 goals-against-average as a sophomore while starting in every game.

Formby is averaging eight saves per game and in both of the Mason and Loyola (Md.) games, the Towson native yielded just one goal in the first half.

Formby made a career-high 12 saves vs. William & Mary while making 11 saves at Hopkins and 10 saves at Denver.

Winning After a Loss ... Before last season, the Hoyas had never lost consecutive games Coach Fried (7-0). Last season though, Georgetown dropped back-to-back games three times, at No. 2 North Carolina and vs. No. 3 Maryland - at No. 5 Virginia and at No. 11 Notre Dame - vs. Syracuse (BE Tourney Finals) and at Princeton.

The Hoyas are 12-3 under Fried in games following a loss since Fried's tenure began in 2005.

In Nailbiters ... Georgetown is 6-2 in overtime games under head coach Ricky Fried. The Hoyas won a 12-11 OT thriller at No. 15 Denver, a game that saw the Hoyas hold the lead just two times - 11-10 and 12-11.