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Junior defender Norah Swanson and the Hoyas have blanked their last three opponents.

The Georgetown women’s soccer team breezed through its final non-conference game of the season this Friday, beating the Towson Tigers 3-0. Another check in the win column brings the Hoyas’ season record to 5-0-1, and their shutout streak to three games.

The Blue and Gray started out slow in the first half as the squad missed several opportunities to make moves offensively against the Tiger defense. Sophomore defender Michaela Buonomo – coming off a stellar performance in last week’s contest against Mississippi State – dived for a header at the Towson goal early in the first half, but was denied by the Tigers’ defense. Fellow sophomore and midfielder Amy Speck also had an open attempt at the goalposts, but was again blocked by Towson’s goaltender.

Even though Speck didn’t capitalize on that opportunity, Head Coach Dave Nolan was very impressed with her play coming off the bench. “I made a conscious decision that, regardless of the results of the game, I was going to try my best to give players some minutes and see if we could get a greater rotation going. . [Speck] gave us some good minutes.”

Despite their struggles to connect offensively in the first half of the game, the Hoyas came roaring back after the halftime break. Just minutes into the second half, freshman forward Camille Trujillo chased down a cross-box pass from junior forward Toni Marie Hudson and drove the ball past the Tigers’ goalie for the Hoyas’ first goal of the match. It was the second goal of the short season for the freshman, who also scored against UMBC.

Following the early attack on goal, the Hoyas again slowed down their offensive attack, finding it difficult to overcome the Tiger defense as the second half wore on. The team picked up the aggression during the final 10 minutes of the contest. Sophomore midfielder Caitlin Durkee kicked off the last-minute attack when she threw in a pass from the right side to Speck, who passed off the ball to Hudson. Hudson drove the ball past the Towson goaltender to take the score to 2-0.

And Hudson wasn’t done taking apart the Towson defense quite yet. Just minutes after scoring, Hudson maneuvered to set up senior midfielder Stephanie Zare with a shot at the goal, and Zare’s attempt at the goal proved to be too much for the Tigers’ goalie to handle; the ball was stopped, but not captured, and the resulting scramble ended in a third and final Hoya goal scored by freshman midfielder Samantha Baker.

On the other side of the field, the Hoya defense remained solid against the offensive advances of their opponents. Sophomore goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin denied all five of the Tigers’ shots on goal, earning her 10th career shutout. DesJardin recorded seven shutouts last season, tying her for Georgetown’s single season record, and with three already accumulated this season, the second-year goalie is well on her way to another standout season. “I thought Jackie was very good today,” Nolan said. “That’s what we want out of Jackie: good solid decision making, confidence and making things look easy.”

The defensive unit of seniors Alex Gargano and Laura Snyder, junior Norah Swanson and Buonomo also contributed to the Hoyas’ third shutout of the season, but Nolan still holds some reservations about the overall caliber of the defensive play.

“I think ultimately they are playing well, but they are making defending harder than it needs to be,” Nolan said. “They are making the right plays, but if they did it a bit quicker or a bit earlier we wouldn’t have to make the heroic last gasp, and that’s what we had a lot of today.”

Overall, Nolan remarked that he felt that the Hoyas allowed their opponent to stay in the contest too long. However, Nolan also said that he was happy with the performance of several players coming off of the bench, namely Speck and Gargano, who showed that they will be real assets to the team and will deepen the squad’s rotation.

The Hoyas next take to the field this Friday, when they will travel to Villanova, Pa., to take on the Wildcats. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.

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