The Georgetown women’s soccer team headed into this weekend looking to extend a four-game winning streak and, having already secured a spot in the Big East tournament, build on its NCAA tournament résumé.

The Hoyas fell to DePaul (10-7-2, 5-5-0 Big East) 2-1 in double overtime and lost to Notre Dame (14-3-1, 10-0-1 Big East) 2-0. The two losses dropped the Hoyas’ overall record to 12-5-2, including 6-4-1 in the Big East.

The rough weekend for the Blue and Gray started late Friday afternoon in Chicago, when the team faced off against DePaul. Emotions were running high for the Blue Demons as they sought a place in the DePaul record books.

“[DePaul] needed to win to qualify for Big East tournament play for the first time in their history – I think their kids sensed it,” Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “They were well up for the game, and we just could never really get going.”

The Blue Demons’ energy did not result in any first-half goals, but the Hoyas spent so much time on defense that they were unable to log a single shot, while DePaul had eight within the first 45 minutes. Perhaps the biggest loss for the Hoyas, however, was junior goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin, who had to leave in the 37th minute due to an injury after a collision with an opposing player left her hobbled.

Despite the massive advantage in shots for DePaul at halftime and the loss of his starting goalie, Nolan felt comfortable at the intermission.

“We got to halftime at 0-0 and I felt we had weathered the storm,” Nolan said. “Give [DePaul] credit, they managed to keep the same energy level all through the game.”

Although Georgetown came out playing a little better in the second half, it was DePaul that drew first blood off a free kick from 25 yards out. Just four minutes later, however, the Hoyas drew even when freshman defender Catherine Cabot headed in her fourth goal of the year off a long throw-in by sophomore forward Samantha Baker.

“We gave away a needless free kick and they scored,” Nolan lamented. “Then we got back into the game off a scramble off a long throw, but we never took over the second half like they took over the first half – and that was disappointing for me.”

Although the Hoyas showed more life offensively in the second half, the play of sophomore goalkeeper Elizabeth Hanna, DesJardin’s backup, was instrumental in keeping the score tied at one until overtime.

In the extra periods, DePaul resumed its barrage of the net, and it finally proved too much in the 105th minute when the Blue Demons scored off another free kick.

“I have no complaints with the result – I felt over the run of play DePaul [was] better today and, to steal a cliché, they probably wanted it more,” Nolan reflected. “We can take absolutely no positives out of this game. . Today we weren’t able to overcome the [extremely windy] conditions, and they were.”

The road trip did not get any easier for the Hoyas on Sunday, as they wrapped up the regular season with a match against No. 6 Notre Dame. Making a difficult task even more challenging, the Irish are essentially unbeatable at home; Notre Dame entered Sunday’s match holding a 92-game home unbeaten streak in conference play.

Despite coming out of the gates much faster than they had against DePaul two days earlier, the Blue and Gray found themselves in an early hole after Notre Dame got on the board just 10 minutes into the contest.

“They came out strong, but we came out strong as well,” Nolan said. “They scored after 10 minutes, which was a little bit disappointing because up to that point I felt that we’d been the better team.”

Instead of backing down from its high-powered opponent, however, Georgetown fought back. Consistent offensive pressure yielded seven shots and four corner kicks for the Hoyas, but they simply could not find the back of the net.

Although the Hoyas got lucky when a Notre Dame penalty kick ricocheted off the post, Nolan was happy with the way his team played in the first half.

“After they scored, instead of us getting on the back foot, we took the game to them again,” he said. “We got to halftime where I would have wanted, with the exception of the goal. . They’ve got some good kids, and good players make plays.”

Georgetown came out after halftime with the same fire, but again could only manage to do everything but score. As quality opportunities for the Hoyas continued to fall by the wayside, the Irish made them pay in the 59th minute when Notre Dame junior midfielder Lauren Fowlkes doubled the Georgetown deficit.

“They were [upset] because we felt the second goal came against the run of play,” Nolan said of his charges. “After that, it would have been easy for us just to fold and let the game go, [but] we hung on.”

As the minutes ticked away, the Hoyas grew increasingly desperate, but the Notre Dame defense did just enough to keep the visitors off the board, and the score remained the same until the final horn sounded.

“We went into the home field of a team that will be a national championship contender and went toe-to-toe with them,” Nolan said. “[We] pretty much matched them for everything they had, so I was very pleased with the performance.”

Nolan also had special praise for Hanna, who had only started one game this year prior to this weekend.

“Elizabeth came in tonight and played a good game,” Nolan said. “It’s difficult to be thrown into the deep end, especially in a game like this.”

Despite the disappointing weekend, the Hoyas have the Big East tournament to look forward to – as well as a possible rematch with Notre Dame – if they can beat St. John’s on the road in a quarterfinal matchup this Sunday.”