Youth served the Georgetown men's lacrosse team well.
Five freshmen had a hand in 11 goals and junior midfielder Max Seligmann's second goal of the game 52 seconds into overtime propelled the No. 13 Hoyas to a 13-12 victory over No. 20 Navy on Friday night before an announced 6,250 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
After Georgetown won the opening faceoff in the extra period, Seligmann raced down the right alley and tucked a shot inside the left post and past Midshipmen sophomore goalkeeper R.J. Wickham.
Seligmann's heroics made up for a quiet evening from linemates Andrew Brancaccio and Scott Kocis, who combined for one goal and one assist.
"I'd like to see those guys hit the net a little bit more, but Max is going to get a short stick, and he was able to take advantage of it," Georgetown coach Dave Urick said.
The Hoyas' fifth consecutive win in Annapolis and third victory in the past four games was due, in large part, to the play of their rookies.
Attackman Travis Comeau scored a game-high four goals, and linemate Davey Emala scored the first three goals of his career. Midfielder Zach Guy registered three assists, midfielder Patrick Murray scored his first goal and won four of seven faceoffs (the first of his career), and attackman Jason McFadden had an assist.
In fact, between Murray's goal with 4:13 left in the first quarter and Comeau converting a feed from Guy with 4:24 left in the third, freshmen contributed to seven of the Hoyas' eight goals.
"We're starting to learn how to play together real nicely," said Emala, a Baltimore native and Gilman graduate. "Murray's play really stands out. That was just absolutely great because he was a short stick coming into college and now he plays the long stick and he showed his athleticism there. Zach Guy has great vision, and on defense, Brennan Bicknese has stepped up big. Every single player is taking advantage of the opportunity."
Georgetown improved to 5-3 by overwhelming the Midshipmen (5-5) in several key categories. The Hoyas won 20 of 29 faceoffs, took 12 more shots (40-28), and collected 24 more ground balls (44-20).
Georgetown was especially dominant in the third quarter, winning eight of nine faceoffs, outshooting Navy 16-5 and scooping up 10 more ground balls (13-3).
