Despite an early lead, the Georgetown field hockey team fell to the Saint Joseph’s Hawks in a 4-1 decision Sunday afternoon at the MultiSport Facility.

“It was definitely a team that was compatible to our level, and we definitely could have come away with the win, so it is a little upsetting to come out with a loss,” junior forward Sarah Butterfield said. “We started out playing really well, playing good, team field hockey for the first half.”

The Hoyas started off strong, with a shot on goal just 44 seconds into the game by sophomore forward Aliyah Graves-Brown. Just seconds later, at the 1:39 mark, Butterfield knocked in the lone Hoya goal off the rebound of a sophomore forward Devin Holmes shot.

“Scoring the first goal is always really important, since it allows yourself the initial advantage and the ability to set the pace of the game,” Butterfield said.

After failing to convert three penalty corners, the Hawks equalized at 12:38 when sophomore forward Kerri Turk beat sophomore goalie Rachel Skonecki with a shot from the left side.

Georgetown began the second half as aggressively as the first, forcing Saint Joseph’s sophomore goalkeeper Amelia Deibler to make two saves within the first two minutes of the half.

“The forward line in general had a really good game,” Butterfield said. “We’ve been working a lot with them lately on their leads, and their cutting, and they looked really great as an attacking threat and by drawing corners.”

Sophomore back Katja Hansen scored the game-winning goal when the rebound from a penalty corner fell to her. The Hawks were able to tack on two more goals in the second half, winning the contest 4-1.

“We needed to stay mentally tough, hold our lead and use it to our advantage, which I don’t think we did the best job at during that game, but I think we can learn a lot from it moving forward,” Butterfield said.

Head Coach Shannon Soares saw a significant difference between the team’s best and worst play during the game.

“The Saint Joe’s game was a tale of two halves,” Soares said. “We came out firing on all cylinders, got the lead and then in the second half we weren’t able to keep doing the little things well, and they were able to exploit us in that.”

Soares will look to bounce back from the loss this Friday when they take the field against conference rival Villanova (3-10, 0-2 Big East). Both squads are winless in the conference this season, so both teams will be vying for their first win in conference play. Georgetown will also look to earn its first win over Villanova since the 1998 season. The two teams met in College Park, Md., for the Hoyas’ last game of the season last year, a contest that the Wildcats won 1-0. Sophomore goalkeeper Rosalie Nolen had six saves in that game.

“I would definitely say that Villanova is a winnable game. They are always a good competitor of ours,” Butterfield said. “It will be fun game since it is under the lights at their field, and it is always interesting playing another team from the Big East. There would be nothing greater than coming out with a win on their home field.”

Georgetown has focused on developing a style of play from the very beginning of the season. That style is based on maintaining possession and taking advantage of counterattacks. Despite that simple method, the Hoyas have struggled in recent games to eliminate mistakes, contributing to four losses in the last five games.

“I think that when you take a look at Villanova either on film or on paper, you’ll see that we’re very similar — we play a very similar style of hockey, I think our strengths and weaknesses align,” Soares said. “We are excited about that opportunity, since we’ll both be fighting for our first Big East conference win, and I think that’s just exciting in and of itself.”