VILLANOVA, Pa. — In the final moment of the Big East men’s lacrosse championship game Saturday, Pat Crogan was back in the backyard ripping shots at his little brother, Sean.
“I’ll give him the credit,” said Crogan, who scored the winning goal on a turnaround jump shot with 1:20 remaining in the first overtime to seal a wild 11-10 victory for second-seeded Georgetown over No. 4 Villanova on a rainy Saturday evening in the Philadelphia suburbs.
“I will say that I did use tennis balls on him,” Crogan added. “But I didn’t hold back on the speed. He’s a midfielder, but he hops in net for me.”
Sean Crogan will suit up for Johns Hopkins next year. Pat Crogan said he’s looking forward to the chance to face him.
But thanks to Crogan’s heroics, next year is still at least one more game away. The Hoyas won their sixth consecutive Big East title.
The goal was Crogan’s second of the game and his first since he opened the scoring off an assist from Aidan Carroll less than a minute into regulation.
The goals came early and often as Georgetown (12-3) dominated possession and raced out to an 8-1 lead just seconds into the second quarter. Faceoff man James Ball won 16 of the first 17 faceoffs.
But this one wasn’t as easy as a backyard shootaround. Villanova (9-7) struck back with seven consecutive goals to force a tie at halftime. No player on either side scored more than one goal in the first half.
Matt Licata scored off an assist from Nicholas Lucchesi to give Villanova its first lead of the game, 9-8, with 6:44 to go in the third. Dan Martin scored from Thomas McIntire to make it 10-8 early in the fourth.
“It was a tale of two games,” Georgetown coach Kevin Warne said. “Actually three games.”
That third game began when Graham Bundy scored off an assist from TJ Haley with 4:54 to go. Carroll (one goal, three assists) connected with Alexander Vardaro to tie it with 4:24 left in regulation.
That set the stage for Crogan’s heroics. He’d been preparing for this moment, and not just back home with his brother in Lexington, Mass.
“We’ve worked on it all week long,” Crogan said. “I was lucky that just happened to go in.”
Georgetown called a timeout moments before Crogan’s winner. The discussion was about keeping it simple.
“We were juiced,” Carroll said. “Our coach told us to take a deep breath and we did. We knew we had to lock in and get the job done.”
Crogan looked briefly to Bundy, saw him covered, and flicked the winner just past Villanova’s Anthony Wilson (12 saves). The shot was highlight-reel worthy. But was it designed for him?
“It’s always for Patrick,” Carroll said.
“He likes playing offense, I’ll say that,” added Warne. “He’s a good kid. He works hard. He stays after practice every day and I’m so happy for him that his hard work showed up when we needed it the most.”
Crogan almost never got the chance. Villanova controlled possession for the final two minutes of regulation but could not score on Anderson Moore (12 saves) and the Hoya defense.
“When you play defense you want to be in those situations,” Warne said. “Our guys were excited to go. This is why we play defense.”
Carroll, who scored the winner in overtime in the semifinals on Thursday, was named tournament MVP. The potential for postseason heroics means a little more to Carroll, whose senior year at Boston College High School was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Sometimes the best team shows up when the time is running out,” Carroll said. “I felt like I never really got to play in that circumstance. Obviously your team's season has ended but you don’t get that senior year feeling. It’s really special.”
While Carroll is excited to see his senior year extended, there is at least one group of guys that are happy to see his collegiate career nearing an end.
“All those Georgetown guys have to graduate,” said Villanova coach Mike Corrado, when asked how the Wildcats could win the Big East. “On a serious note, they’re veterans. They’ve been there a long time. They’re good. We’ve lost to them 11 times in a row and seven or eight of them were very similar to what you saw here, where they just make a play in the end. It’s frustrating, but they’re really talented.”
