After grabbing four of a possible six points at North Kehoe Field in the final weekend of the regular season – including a stirring rally to draw with No. 4 Notre Dame – the Georgetown women’s soccer team is riding high going into this weekend’s Big East tournament quarterfinal against South Florida.

Although Sunday’s comeback against the Fighting Irish is what many will remember about the weekend, the more important result came in the form of Friday’s 1-0 win over DePaul.

“We certainly wanted to make sure that we took care of business against DePaul,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said of his team’s mindset. “The DePaul game was actually the bigger game, [since] when we got the victory there it got us to 13 wins [and] got us homefield advantage for the quarterfinal of the Big East [tournament].”

Although the Hoyas were certainly favored going into their matchup with the Blue Demons, they knew it would not be an easy contest as they had fallen in similar circumstances last year when on the road in Chicago. In addition to banishing the bad memories of last year’s two-loss road trip to DePaul and Notre Dame, the win took a lot of weight off of Georgetown’s proverbial shoulders.

“The pressure was off [after DePaul],” Nolan said of his team’s attitude going into the game against Notre Dame. “Now we [had] a chance to go play against one of the best teams in the country and test ourselves.”

After a 74th-minute penalty kick gave the visitors the lead, it looked like the Hoyas were headed toward another gut-wrenching defeat until junior forward Camille Trujillo came to the rescue with a clever backheel goal with less than five minutes left. Despite positive attacking play from both of the teams for the rest of regulation and both 10-minute overtime periods, the game ended knotted at one, preserving Notre Dame’s unbeaten conference record, but also proving that the Hoyas, who lost a 2-0 contest to No. 1 Stanford earlier this year, can play with anyone.

“It was good to be able to go against Notre Dame to see where we are right now at the end of the season,” Nolan said. “I think the kids really stepped up to the plate, and I think they left the game with a new confidence about their ability.”

Although the Blue and Gray already have one victory under their belt against South Florida this season – a 3-1 win at North Kehoe Field on Oct. 1 – they are still wary of a Bulls team that went 5-1-1 down the stretch in the wake of that defeat to seize the No. 3 seed in the Big East’s American division.

“It’s always tough to play a team twice in the soccer season,” Nolan said. “We know South Florida will come in fighting for their lives because I think ultimately, where they are, they need to win the game to continue their season in the Big East. But they also need to win the game to get themselves into a spot where they could be an at-large bid for the NCAAs.”

The specter of the NCAA tournament selection committee isn’t only hanging over the Bulls, as the Blue and Gray know they still have work to do if they want to solidify a return to the tournament that a late-season dip in form prevented them from playing in last year.

“My sense is that one more win will get us in,” Nolan predicted. “If we happen to lose, we’re then, I think, at the mercy of the committee and at the mercy of conference upsets where teams who are ranked ahead of us [lose].”

Despite the possible national implications of Sunday’s clash, the team knows that it also has an opportunity to exact revenge on a Marquette team that beat the Blue and Gray 2-1 at the Hilltop earlier this year.

“We see a path to the Big East final this year,” Nolan said. “But we’re not thinking this far ahead, we’re thinking about Sunday and trying to win … and get back to the Big East tournament [semifinal] for the first time since 2007.”

That was a special year for the team, as its progression to the Big East semifinal and NCAA berth were both firsts for the programs. Nolan described 2007 as “the year we kind of broke out.” That year’s team was led by a strong senior cohort who helped guide a talented freshman class through the rigors of a college season. Now, the script has been flipped as those freshmen are now the seniors leading the way for a team that has six freshmen that have played in at least 18 games. That freshman clas includes Kaitlin Brenn, who is third on the team with six goals, Emily Menges who has started every game for the Blue and Gray, and Kailey Blain and Mary Kroening who have started 17 games apiece.

The across-the-board contributions remind Nolan of the 2007 squad, but with one major difference.

“I think this group has more ambition,” he said. “I think [in 2007] it was such a wonderful achievement to get in [to the NCAA tournament] for the first time in the program’s history that I think we probably let an opportunity pass.”

The Blue and Gray will have their first postseason chance to make good on that ambition on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at North Kehoe Field.”