NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - The top-seeded Georgetown University women's lacrosse team moved one step closer to a BIG EAST Championship defeating fourth-seeded Loyola (Md.) University (11-7) 11-9 in the semifinals of the conference tournament on Thursday evening at Yurcak Field. With the victory, Georgetown has made it nine in a row tying the longest win streak in program history and improving to 12-5 for the season.

"After a difficult week, I was happy to see us come together and get the win," said Head Coach Ricky Fried. "Loyola is a talented team and I have to give credit to their goalie who thwarted a number of attempts. We're excited to be in the championship game and happy we lived to see another day on Saturday."

Jacqueline Giles (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Hebron) scored the first goal of the game on a nice curl around the goal from the left side. Loyola evened the score, but First Team All-BIG EAST selection Kelly Barnes (St. Davids, Pa./Radnor) had a response. Barnes caused a turnover and passed down to Jordy Kirr (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr Academy) who found the back of the cage at 22:07.

Unfortunately, the Greyhounds built some momentum to close out the half with a 3-1 run. Senior attacker Molly Ford (Reisterstown, Md./Notre Dame Prep) managed an unassisted tally, but the Hoyas still trailed 5-3 at the break.

The Greyhounds went ahead by three as Grace Gavin scored a diving goal less than a minute into the second, however, Georgetown finally began to make a comeback as GU staged a 5-0 run.

Kirr started with the ball on the left side and bounced one in between keeper Kerry Stoothoff's legs. She scored another as Erin Lovett (Wantagh, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) took a free position and used a fake to find Kirr next to the cage. The Blue & Gray tied it up at the 21-minute mark on an unassisted shot from Sophia Thomas (Lutherville, Md./Maryvale Prep). Bunny O'Reilly (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside School) scored the go-ahead goal getting her own rebound and putting it back in making the score 7-6.

Senior midfielder Ashby Kaestner (Trappe, Md./Saints Peter and Paul) scored off of a free position at 14:52, but Loyola finally stopped the run with a goal at 13:52 after a tough GU turnover. The Greyhounds followed with another score off of the draw control to tie it at eight.

Thomas hit a free position to take another lead, but it would come down to the wire. Ford then made a good decision shooting low to make it 10-8 off of a pass from Kelsi Bozel (Hunt Valley, Md./Notre Dame Prep). Bozel tallied a goal of her own minutes later firing a bullet right in front of the goal.

The Hoyas couldn't breathe yet, as Gavin cut it to two. However, the Blue & Gray managed to hold on for the 11-9 victory to advance to the championship game.

Kirr led the way with the hat trick, while both Ford and Thomas had two goals apiece. The Hoyas outshot the Greyhounds 32-22, but had one less draw control (12-11) as the squads tied in ground balls with 20 each. Caitlin Formby (Towson, Md./Notre Dame Prep) had eight saves in the cage for Georgetown.

The Hoyas will face the winner of No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Syracuse on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Yurcak Field. The game will be televised live on CBS College Sports and live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.