There was a time a few years ago when the Big East was one of the top women’s soccer conferences in the country, but recent conference realignment has changed the equation slightly. Gone are traditional powerhouses like Louisville, Notre Dame, UConn and West Virginia. In their place are several less established programs such as Butler, Creighton and Xavier. As a result of all the movement, No. 20 Georgetown has played a far less demanding schedule this season than in past years. In fact, the Hoyas have not faced one team all season that was ranked in the NSCAA Poll at the time of the match.
That will change on Friday night when Georgetown (16-2-2, 7-1-1 Big East) travels to Charlottesville, Va. to take on No. 1 Virginia (21-1, 13-0 ACC) in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Cavaliers are without a doubt the best team the Hoyas will play this year. Virginia enters the match having coasted through the first round, beating St. Francis 5-0, and winning every game it played in the regular season. Playing in the ACC, a conference that boasts seven of the 32 teams remaining in the NCAA tournament, Virginia outscored its opponents by a combined 34-6; at one point it recorded six straight shutouts.
“Obviously they’re the No. 1 seed,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “They’re having a great season.”
But all of that is not to say the Cavaliers are unbeatable. In the ACC tournament semifinals, Virginia was upset 4-2 by No. 4 Virginia Tech, and Nolan is confident that his team can repeat the feat.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Nolan said. “But we’ve played them down there enough times where we’re comfortable and familiar with the field. We’ve played well against them on occasion, we’ve tied them a couple times and we’ve lost a couple of close ones.”
Driving Nolan’s optimism is his belief in the quality of his players, and their ability to matchup with a similarly talented Virginia side.
“The good thing is that they play good soccer and we always do well against teams that play soccer, because we play good soccer, too,” Nolan said.
Georgetown does indeed play good soccer. Seniors Kailey Blain and Emily Menges and junior Daphne Corboz were named First-Team all-Big East. Menges won the conference award for defensive player of the year and Corboz won the trophy for midfielder of the year.
It has been a record-breaking year for Georgetown. The Hoyas’ 2-0 victory on Sunday over La Salle in the first round of the NCAA tournament cemented their spot as the winningest team in program history. The Hoyas have also set a school record for goals scored in a season with 58.
Individual accolades and numbers are well and good, but right now Georgetown is zeroed in on beating Virginia and either Wake Forest or Penn State in the third round on Sunday. If it can manage that, the team will return to the Elite Eight for the second time in program history. The six seniors on the Georgetown roster were freshmen when that first happened in 2010.
That tournament run is of importance to the Hoyas not only for its success, but also for its similarities to the current postseason.
After suffering a disappointing 1-0 loss to USF in the quarterfinal of the Big East Tournament, Georgetown backed into the NCAA tournament in 2010. This year’s Hoyas also lost their first Big East Tournament game 1-0, a semifinal match against DePaul. In both seasons the Hoyas easily dispatched their first round NCAA opponent. In 2010 it was a 5-1 win over Sienna, and on this year it was a 2-0 victory over La Salle on Sunday.
The catalyst of that 2010 Elite Eight run came in the second round, when the Hoyas shocked then No. 1 Maryland in penalty kicks. Georgetown is hoping that history will repeat itself on Friday night in Charlottesville.
“I told the girls after the [La Salle] game that in 2010 we knocked off the number one seed, Maryland, and had a great run to the Elite Eight after that,” Nolan said. “I’m kind of looking at it like maybe it’s a little deja vu.”