Heading into the weekend, the Hoyas were anticipating two tough matchups, one at home against traditional conference rival Villanova and the other on the road against a tough University of Pennsylvania. After waxing a short-handed Villanova team 4-0 on Friday, the Hoyas (7-1-1, 1-0 Big East) were disappointingly fought to a 3-3 draw by the resilient Quakers.

The Blue and Gray got off to a fast start on Friday against Villanova and forced the Wildcats’ goalkeeper, senior Molly Williams, to make several saves in the opening minutes.

The Hoyas’ pressure finally bore fruit in the 24th minute, when graduate student forward [Sara Jordan](https://www.thehoya.com/sports/return-jordan-wells-gives-hoyas-boost/) tucked a beautiful shot over Williams’ hand into the upper right corner of the goal from just outside the penalty box on the left side of the goal. Jordan, who missed the majority of last season with a knee injury, is still playing herself back into form – but her steady improvement over the past few games has not been lost on Head Coach Dave Nolan.

“[Jordan] keeps defenders honest and causes problems,” Nolan said. “She’s still not back to her best . As we play better teams she’s continuing to get better.”

Although the Hoyas would not score again in the half, the constant pressure applied by the Georgetown forwards, especially sophomore Camille Trujillo, meant that Villanova only mustered one shot on goal in the entire half.

At halftime, Nolan knew that the next goal would likely determine the course of the game, especially since the Villanova defense had been visibly tiring at the end of the half.

“I told the girls, whoever gets the next goal is going to be in the ascendancy.” Nolan said. “That’s always what happens and that’s what happened [Friday].”

Despite a number of opportunities at the beginning of the second half, it was not until the 64th minute that redshirt sophomore [Ingrid Wells](https://www.thehoya.com/sports/return-jordan-wells-gives-hoyas-boost/) doubled the Hoyas’ tally, running onto a ball and blasting it past the keeper after a Jordan cross had been neatly knocked down by Trujillo at the edge of the box.

As Nolan had predicted, this goal seemed to deflate Villanova, and a third goal was poked in by freshman defender Catherine Cabot after a long throw-in from sophomore forward Samantha Baker. Junior midfielder Amy Speck netted the last goal of the day with just five minutes left off a pass from Sara Jordan that left Speck alone in front of an empty net.

When the game ended 4-0, junior goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin had recorded her 21st career clean sheet – a Georgetown record – just a week after breaking the Georgetown wins record. Both records had been held by Jade Higgins (MSB ’08).

Despite the lopsided result, however, Nolan stated his belief that Villanova will not be an easy opponent come Big East tournament time.

“I hope we don’t see them again,” he said. “Because if we play them again they will certainly have every motivation to [beat] us.”

Going into his team’s game against UPenn on Sunday, Nolan was wary of a repeat performance from last year when his team, fresh off beating Villanova 3-0, had to scramble back from a two-goal deficit and was fortunate to walk away with a tie.

“Coming off the big game on Friday, sometimes it’s hard to get up for a non-conference game right after that,” Nolan said. “And I think we did come out great, we came out flying.”

The Hoyas’ early effort paid dividends in the form of a 29th minute goal from junior defender Michaela Buonomo, who headed in her third goal of the season off a Baker corner kick. Despite outshooting the Quakers 11-3 in the first half, it was not until the beginning of the second half that the Hoyas went up 2-0. Trujillo scored after a Cabot corner kick and a Jordan deflection put her in position to score her sixth goal of the year. This goal made Jordan Georgetown’s all-time assists leader.

When junior midfielder Caitlin Durkee converted a free kick from 30 yards out in the 75th minute, it seemed like the Hoyas had put the game away. Just over eight minutes later, UPenn senior forward Jessica Fuccello finished off a hat trick, stunning a Georgetown team that had only given up two goals all year. Although the Hoyas were able to regroup and perform admirably in overtime, they could not find the back of the net and the game ended in a 3-3 draw.

“I have to give the girls a lot of credit,” Nolan said. “They played tremendously for the [first] 75 minutes of the game and for the 20 minutes of overtime.”

The Hoyas look to build on their 7-1-1 record this upcoming weekend, when they return to conference play with a home match on Friday against Rutgers followed by an away game against Seton Hall on Sunday.”