Georgetown fans flocked to downtown D.C. by the hundreds in the wee hours of this morning, camping outside Verizon Center in search of pole position for the coveted lower-bowl seats in today’s Georgetown-Syracuse game.
Bryn Hastings (MSB ’14) left the Hilltop at 2 a.m. with a large group of Georgetown fans.
“Our group alone had three cabs, and they were packed…more than you’re supposed to have in a cab,” she said. “There were 70 people in front of us, maybe 100.”
The atmosphere outside the arena was fairly low-key after the bars closed Friday night before picking up at dawn, according to Hastings.
“Around 6 a.m., it was party time,” she said.
According to Jack Collins (SFS ’14), who arrived at 7:15 a.m., Verizon Center staff began allowing students into the arena in small increments starting just before 8.
Once inside the arena, students filled the lower bowl rapidly and jeered the Orange as they came out for the pregame shootaround. Some students were invited to play knockout and run suicide drills to help pass the time.
Fans from outside the Hilltop filed in as the morning progressed, including some unlikely and possibly contentious groups.
15-year-old Pat Coyle, decked out in Syracuse gear, sat calmly next to schoolmates Trent and Coby Williams, who count themselves among the Hoya faithful. The teenagers assured your correspondent that a fight wouldn’t break out — in their section, at least.
“I thought it would be cool to bring [Coyle] because of the rivalry, and this being the last Syracuse game,” Trent Williams said. “The last game, we were texting back and forth, but now it’s in person.”
