The Georgetown offense came into this weekend on a roll, having scored 30 goals in the first nine games of the season. Just three days later, the previously streaking Hoyas had dropped to 7-2-2 on the season (1-1-1 Big East) and are now suddenly in an offensive slump after scoring only one goal in two games. Georgetown was shut out for the first time this season on Friday at home against Rutgers (8-1-2, 2-0-1 Big East), and salvaged a tie with a late goal in an away matchup against Seton Hall (4-5-1, 0-2-1 Big East).

The Scarlet Knights came into their Friday match at North Kehoe Field as the 17th-ranked team in the country, and sub-par early play by the Hoyas gave Rutgers a chance to show how they had earned that ranking.

“We knew what was on the line in this game and I thought we came out a little bit flat,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said.

The Scarlet Knights made the Hoyas pay for their lack of energy in the 13th minute when junior forward Ashley Jones beat junior goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin for her team-leading eighth goal of the season after winding her way through a series of Georgetown defenders. Just eight minutes later, the Hoyas barely avoided another disaster when a Rutgers goal-scorer was ruled offsides, keeping the

score at 1-0.

Rutgers kept constant pressure on the Georgetown backline, and although the Hoyas started to show some life at the end of the half, Nolan felt that his team had been lucky to avoid giving up a second goal.

“At halftime I felt we were lucky to be only one goal down,” Nolan said. “I thought Rutgers [was] better.”

Although the Hoyas came out with much more energy in the second half, they still could not find the equalizer in the face of a swarming Rutgers defense that was consistently double-teaming the Hoya midfield tandem of redshirt sophomore Ingrid Wells and sophomore Kelly D’Ambrisi.

“I thought [Rutgers] did a good job of defending whenever Ingrid [Wells] or Kelly [D’Ambrisi] got the ball – they always sent a separate player quickly,” Nolan said. “Our other players should have been getting themselves free to receive the ball and they just stood back and watched.”

Nolan was less than pleased with his team’s performance, but knew that he did not have to spell it out in painful detail for his players.

“The girls are disappointed,” Nolan said. “I don’t need to yell at them and tell them it’s not acceptable, they know that. . Today, Rutgers just had a little bit more than we had.”

Things did not get much easier for the Hoyas on Sunday, when they traveled to South Orange, N.J., to play Seton Hall. Coming into the game, they knew that they would be dealing with a Pirates team desperate to avoid dropping to 0-3 in conference.

“It was a big game for Seton Hall since they were 0-2 in the conference,” Nolan said. “They came out pumped up with great energy.”

First-half troubles plagued the Hoyas again, as the Pirates’ energetic attack made the Hoyas’ defense scramble to keep them off the board. Georgetown finally fell behind in the 15th minute after a series of Seton Hall corner kicks when senior defender Megan Mills headed home her second career goal to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Altogether, the Hoyas were outshot 8-3 in that lackluster first period and were left searching for answers when halftime arrived.

“At halftime I said, `Listen, you haven’t played well, and the game is only 1-0,'” Nolan recounted. “`We can easily go and get something from this game.'”

As Nolan wanted, the Hoyas came out charged up in the second half and immediately got on the offensive. Despite their vastly improved play in the second half, it was not until the 77th minute, when junior midfielder Caitlin Durkee scored her third goal of the season off a pass from D’Ambrisi, that the Hoyas were able to equalize. Georgetown was not able to score in the last 13 minutes of the half, but ended regulation playing well, having compiled a 12-0 shot advantage in the second half.

“The second half – I give the girls a lot of credit, they came out and played like I know they can play,” Nolan said. “We hit some poles, we had a couple cleared off the line; we had a couple go across the face of the goal. We just couldn’t buy a break.”

In the context of the game, Nolan was happy to have salvaged the point, but he had still been hoping to get three points instead of just one.

“I think for what we would have wanted to do this year, to come away with a tie here is a bit disappointing,” Nolan said. “It’s bittersweet – you want to win the game, but at the end of the season in the reckoning, the one point we picked up on the road at Seton Hall may help.”

Nolan was not the only one who was impressed with the Hoyas’ improved play in the second half, as Seton Hall Head Coach Kazbek Tambi also praised the Hoyas’ second half effort.

“It was night and day,” Nolan related. “The Seton Hall coach even said to me after the game, `Where was that [effort] in the first half?'”

This weekend, the Hoyas hope to solve their recent first-half woes and head out on the road for conference games against Providence and Connecticut.”