As the NCAA tournament selection show began at 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, the question was not whether the Georgetown women’s soccer team (15-6, 8-3 Big East) would be awarded an at-large bid to the field of 64 tournament teams, but rather a matter of who the Hoyas would face in the opening round.
An hour later, the unthinkable had happened. Despite setting a school record with 14 regular season wins, finishing second in the Big East National Division and making the conference tournament semifinals, the Blue and Gray’s season came to an unanticipated end as they were excluded from the 2011 NCAA tournament.
“We didn’t expect it, not even close. We didn’t even think it was an issue,” said Head Coach Dave Nolan, who has received outreach from an array of Big East and nonconference coaches alike expressing their surprise at the decision.
“The plan was just to go train on Monday night. It was a huge surprise, and it really stunned pretty much everybody — not just players, but coaches, administrators, people in the soccer community. … They’re all as surprised as we are that we didn’t get in.”
While the NCAA tournament committee is not permitted to officially comment on the rationale of selection process, among the possible explanations is that this year’s choices were less centered on the Rating Percentage Index, seeing as Georgetown’s RPI of 42 is traditionally good enough for qualification. However, seven teams were selected with an RPI worse than 42.
Nolan emphasized that the decision would not define the Hoyas’ season.
“I told the girls we can’t allow the subjectivity of ten people in a room to determine or define if our season was a success or not,” Nolan said.
Indeed, in hindsight it would be difficult to characterize Georgetown’s season as anything but a triumph, as the team battled adversity to make history in more ways than one.
“We equaled a program record for number of wins on the season, we set a record for the best regular-season record, we got back to the Big East semifinal for only the second time in the program history, we scored [a program best of] 53 goals and we knocked off the defending national champions on their home field,” Nolan said. “We did all of this with a target on our back, and we did all of this overcoming a lot of significant injuries which really stretchedus.”
From the late days of August to the first week of November, the Hoyas’ success hinged largely upon the skill, vision and leadership of its six graduating members.
Among the group of seniors is goalkeeper Liz Hanna, who battled past injury to stand strong as the last line of defense.Centerback Gabby Miller, a four-year starter, continued to be a “model of consistency” for the Blue and Gray while serving as field general from the defense despite injuries of her own.
Midfielder Kelly D’Ambrisi has been called perhaps the program’s greatest success story by her coach, entering the program as a virtual walk-on and developing into one of the top midfielders in the conference, being selected to the all-Big East first team in 2010 and 2011. Explosive forward Samantha Baker, notorious for her dangerously long throw-ins and set-piece delivery, was also named to the all-conference third team this season.
Redshirt senior midfielder Ingrid Wells is Georgetown’s all-time leading scorer and the only Hoya with more than 100 goals to her name.
Forward Camille Trujillo is the program’s record-holder in career and single-season goals scored, and she received all-conference first team honors after dominating Big East defenders to the tune of 11 goals in her last 10 games. Finally, Ingrid Wells, who is currently training with the United States national team in Phoenix, Ariz., is the Blue and Gray’s career points leader and the first Hoya with more than 100 points to her name. The small but fierce playmaker led Georgetown with 30 points this season, and is the two-time Big East midfielder of the year.
“It’s disappointing for the seniors in particular, because coming off the field against West Virginia we didn’t know that it was the last time that those kids would play together,” Nolan said. “The most disappointing thing is that the seniors never got a chance to say goodbye. … But eventually they’ll sit back and look over the whole body of work for the four years that they’ve been here and realize, wow what a great run it was for those kids.”
