Cognizant of the emotionally charged and often unpredictable nature of the occasion, Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan noted prior to Friday’s regular-season finale that one can simply never know what Senior Day will bring.
On Friday afternoon, the Hoyas (14-5, 8-3 Big East) brushed aside the uncertainty of the afternoon with arguably their most impressive victory of a record-setting year, defeating conference rivals Villanova (8-9-2, 4-7 Big East), 6-0, for a program-best 14th regular-season win.
With the resounding victory, the Blue and Gray finished their Big East campaign in second place in the National Division with 24 points, two behind champion Louisville. Georgetown earned a bye to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, while Villanova, which needed at least a point to keep its postseason hopes alive, saw its season come to an abrupt end.
“The result certainly is a very emphatic statement. … I just think it was a great Senior Day for these kids. You always worry that on Senior Day the emotions become too much and players lose focus, but I thought the kids handled it pretty well,” Nolan said. “[This] is what I’d expect from this group. They’re a pretty mature group, and they realize there’s a lot of soccer still to be played.”
The Hoyas got off to a blazing start when senior forward Sam Baker heaved a trademark throw into the penalty box, finding sophomore defender Mary Kroening, whose header sparked a chaotic sequence in the six-yard box. Eventually, senior midfielder Kelly D’Ambrisi found the ball at her feet and blasted it home just 3:36 from the opening kickoff.
While Villanova was searching a playoff berth, Georgetown proved its urgency in maintaining momentum heading into the postseason.
“It could have been very easy for us to come out soft against a team that really needed to win today,” redshirt senior midfielder Ingrid Wells said. “But it was just as important a game for us to get into NCAAs and to get prepared for Sunday next week.”
The Wildcats were visibly fazed by the goal as the Blue and Gray tore through the visitors’ back line with repeated runs into open space, and the lead was doubled in the sixth minute. Wells threaded the ball through to the in-form Camille Trujillo from just outside the penalty box, and the senior forward chipped over the stranded goalkeeper for her team-leading 10th goal of the season.
The pressure only continued, as Georgetown outshot Villanova, 12-1, in the opening 45 minutes. Wells again played a ball in from the right side of the midfield in the 16th minute, finding freshman midfielder Daphne Corboz in stride and with space to run inside the 18. Corboz finished the play flawlessly, slotting the ball past the now-desperate Villanova netminder to complete the scoring in an excellent first half for the hosts.
Even after notching a win, however, Nolan saw room for improvement.
“I talked to them at halftime. I said, ‘Listen I know we’re winning, 3-0, but I don’t think we played well.’ I think this group holds itself to a standard more than just the result,” Nolan said. “When we’re on like we were today for parts, we play really good soccer… And I think the kids knew we didn’t probably play as well as we can, we just were efficient around the net.”
Any chance of a comeback was extinguished minutes after the whistle blew to commence the second half. A long Wells free kick was flicked over the defense from just outside the penalty box, and Trujillo made no mistake, hammering a spectacular volley into the back of the net to make it 4-0 with just 49 minutes gone. Trujillo now leads the team with 11 goals after scoring just once in the team’s first 10 games. Corboz then became the second Hoya to get a brace on the afternoon, sneaking a low shot inside the far post after Wells threaded another pass to her on the left side of the penalty area.
The rout was topped off by a fine individual effort from sophomore midfielder Alexa St. Martin in the 85th minute. After maintaining possession through a crowd outside of the penalty box, St. Martin rifled a shot from the top of the area past the keeper and inside the near post for the Hoyas’ sixth tally of the day.
For the talented graduating class of six, it was an emotional as well as a satisfying result.
“You only have one senior game,” Baker said. “You put so much into everyone else’s senior game, all of a sudden it’s yours and it doesn’t hit you until you’re walking out with your parents. You’re like, ‘OK, this is really happening now.'”
For Wells, all focus now turns to Sunday’s home conference quarterfinal date with Syracuse, as Georgetown will look to build on a season which has already rewritten the record books.
“The last two years we’ve lost in double overtime in [the first round of the Big East tournament], and I want this so bad. We haven’t been there since freshmen year, and it’s so cool to make the final four of the Big East,” Wells said. “It’s definitely something this team’s capable of doing and I also think it’s a big step into making the NCAAs.”
“We talked about this before the game — last year’s team made great history, [and] this year’s team has a chance to make its own great history,” Nolan added. “I think by winning 14 games today they have made a little bit of history.”
The Hoyas’ second season is set to kick off against the Orange at 1 p.m. on Sunday at North Kehoe Field.
