Sept. 21, 2012

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - Georgetown will have fond memories of its first national television appearance, as Matt MacZura kicked a 33-yard field goal with 14 seconds left to lift the Hoyas to a 21-20 win at Princeton in a contest shown on ESPNU Friday night.

The win gives the Hoyas a 3-1 record for the third year in a row. Georgetown was down 14-3 in the first half, but rallied with a strong defensive effort, three field goals by MacZura and quality play from quarterback Stephen Skon.

The victory also gives the Patriot League a 4-2 mark against the Ivy League this season, with each of the contests decided by seven points or less.

The Patriot League makes another appearance on national television on Saturday, and this time it's the League opener as Lafayette visits Bucknell at Noon on CBS Sports Network. Four teams will play a non-League contest, with Fordham at Columbia and Holy Cross hosting Dartmouth in the afternoon while Colgate goes to No. 20 Stony Brook and No. 13/16 Lehigh puts the nation's longest regular-season winning streak on the line at Liberty in the evening.

For links to live stats, audio and video coverage from Saturday's games, go to Patriot League Week 4 Gameday

A full synopsis of Georgetown's victory is included below, along with the school recap and box score from the contest.

Georgetown 21 at Princeton 20
Box Score

PRINCETON, N.J. - Matt MacZura booted a 33-yard field goal with 14 seconds to play to give Georgetown (3-1) a dramatic 21-20 victory at Princeton (0-2) on Friday evening at Princeton Stadium in a game televised on ESPNU.

The Hoyas improve to 3-1 for the third consecutive season, and beat an Ivy League opponent for the first time since 2003. The Patriot League improved to 4-2 against the Ivy League this season, with the games decided by 1, 3, 3, 3, 7 and 7 points.

MacZura hit a 25-yard field goal in the first quarter to give the Hoyas an early 3-0 lead, but Princeton answered with a pair of touchdowns for a 14-3 advantage. After MacZura trimmed the gap with a 26-yard field goal, the Hoyas got to within 14-12 when Jeremy Moore recovered a fumble in the endzone with 3:27 to play in the second quarter. It stayed that way until late in the third quarter when Georgetown re-gained the lead at 18-14 on a seven-yard touchdown run by Nick Campanella with 17 seconds to go in the period. Princeton went back ahead 20-18 on a touchdown just 32 seconds after Campanella's score, but the Hoyas came through when it mattered most. Taking over possession at its own 12-yard line with 5:34 to play, Georgetown went 72 yards to set up MacZura's game-winning boot. The drive included a six-yard run by Dalen Claytor to convert a 4th-and-3 from the Princeton 48, which was followed by completions of 14 and 10 yards from Skon to Kevin Macari to get the Hoyas into field-goal range. Georgetown snuffed out Princeton's final desperation play to seal its first-ever win in six meetings with the Tigers.

Skon, who started the season as the third-string quarterback, completed 14-of-24 passes for 121 yards in place of Aaron Aiken. Claytor led the way with 70 yards on the ground, while Campanella had 63 yards and the score as the Hoyas rushed for 139 yards as a team. Macari had eight receptions for 76 yards, while Elliott Owusu added five catches for 55 yards. It was another strong night for the Georgetown defense, which held Princeton to just 286 yards of total offense. Dustin Wharton had 12 tackles, a sack and a blocked kick, Jeremy Grasso totaled 12 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, Robert McCabe notched 10 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack and Moore recorded 10 tackles with the fumble-recovery touchdown, his second straight week with a score. In addition to making all three of his field-goal attempts, MacZura punted six times for a 38.2 average with a pair inside the 20. He nailed a game-winning field goal in the final two minutes for the second time this year, also doing so on Sept. 8 in a 13-10 win over Wagner.

Georgetown and Princeton were facing off for the first time since 1923, with the Hoyas gaining their first win in the series. Georgetown had lost 13 straight games against Ivy League opponents since defeating Cornell 42-20 on Oct. 18, 2003.