This past week, six of eight teams in the Eastern College Athletic Conference played its first conference opponents, in games characterized by tough, competitive play just four weeks into the season.

No. 20 Fairfield (3-0, 1-0 ECAC) continued its quest for an undefeated season, defeating Rutgers, 10-7, while 2007 ECAC champion No. 11 Georgetown fell in double overtime to No. 5 Syracuse in its conference opener on Sunday.

Massachusetts and Hobart are the only two teams in the league who have not faced a conference opponent.

The Minutemen, coming off two straight losses to Ivy League opponents Harvard and Yale, will open their ECAC schedule against No. 18 Albany (N.Y.) today, while Hobart (2-1) will face a tough opener against the Hoyas on Saturday.

Just 46 seconds into the double-overtime period, senior midfielder Brendan Lotus (four goals) netted the game-winner to lead the Orange to victory against Georgetown, 9-8.

The team overcame a three-goal, fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, outscoring the Hoyas 4-1 in the final period.

Lotus’s third goal of the game, coming at 13:41, sparked the three-goal run over the next seven and a half minutes, which tied the game 6-6 with a little over six minutes left in the game.

Hoya attackman Max Seligmann scored an unassisted goal that put Georgetown up one with under two minutes to play, and midfielder Steve Brooks came up big for the second straight week.

Last week, the senior who forced overtime against No.2 Virginia did it again, getting a cross-field pass from captain attackman Mike Leville (one goal, two assists) and burying a low shot past Hoya senior goaltender Miles Kass with two seconds to play. Georgetown was sloppy at its own end of the field, turning it over in the last seconds of the game, allowing the Orange to capitalize.

Syracuse dominated on face offs, winning 17 of 21, thanks in part to senior midfielder Danny Brennan, who won all but one faceoff for the Orange.

In the second extra time, Brennan set up Lotus for the game-winning goal, which gave Syracuse its first lead in the game. On five occasions during the contest, the Orange trailed by three goals until finally taking the lead in the second overtime.

Attackman Kenny Nims had two goals, while midfielder Steve Brooks and attackman Stephen Keough each had a goal and an assist, respectively. With three points, Leville continued his streak of consecutive games with a point at 43, while Nims’ two goals leave him with the team lead in goals (11).

For Georgetown, attackman Andrew Baird and midfielder Andrew Brancaccio each had two goals, while four other Hoyas notched goals for the visiting team.

The Orange outshot Georgetown, 57-26, while Syracuse also secured a plethora of ground balls and were able to clear the ball out of its own defensive zone. The Hoyas were able to capitalize on the extra-man advantage, going 2-for-4, even though both teams were even in penalties (four), while Syracuse held 30 more seconds in the box. The Orange’s freshman goalkeeper John Galloway had ten saves, while the Hoya goalie Kass registered a career-high 19 saves.

Fairfield remains undefeated

Fairfield continued to show no signs of slowing down, knocking off ECAC foe Rutgers in its conference opener last Saturday, 10-7. Attackman Travis Nelson was named ECAC Offensive Player of the Week after scoring a career-high four goals and registering two assists. The senior leads Fairfield in goals (six), assists (five) and points (11).

Another Stag earned his second conference award in his third week of being a collegiate athlete, as attackman Doug Kuring earned Co-Rookie of the Week honors. He scored twice against the Scarlet Knights, including the game-winning score off a feed from Nelson, and also leads the ECAC in game-winning goals (two), and is second on the team in points (seven).

As a team, Fairfield is ranked for the first time in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Coaches Poll and is 3-0 for the second consecutive year.

Greyhounds winning streak ends

No. 17 Loyola suffered its worst defeat since 1995 in a one-sided loss to the nation’s top-ranked team last Saturday. No. 1 Duke shelled the Greyhounds, 21-8, last Saturday, as midfielder Paul Richards was the only Loyola player to score more than one goal.

Richards and attackman Jake Wilcox cut the deficit to four goals midway through the second quarter, but the Blue Devils answered with six straight and led five minutes into the second half, 14-4.

The Greyhounds stuck with Duke on ground balls (44-43 of Duke) and faceoffs (17-15 Duke), but were outshot (48-29) by a potent Duke offense that had six players score more than one goal. Attackman Max Quinzani had five goals, while captain attackman Matt Danowski had four goals and two assists for the Blue Devils.

David Brinch can be reached at [email protected].