Charles Nailen/The Hoya Senior forward Jesse Beers-Altman scored the team’s only goal against George Mason. The team dropped to 0-4 after their 2-1 on Tuesday.
Georgetown and George Mason had never met in a regular season women’s soccer match before this year. The two teams had scrimmaged in the past, with the Hoyas winning each contest. On Tuesday, George Mason won when it counted.
The Patriots’ 2-1 overtime victory boosted their record to 3-0-1 and dropped Georgetown to 0-4, marking the program’s worst start in its 11-year history.
George Mason is the third mid-Atlantic regional team Georgetown has lost to this season. At the beginning of the season, head coach Diane Drake had singled out these early games as critical to the team’s goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament. Now, she said, her team is striving to re-establish itself.
“It’s challenging for all of us,” Drake said. “We had such high expectations, and when you fall short of them early on, you’ve got to look at a way to find yourself again.”
The Patriots applied consistent pressure on Georgetown early, making five shots on goal in the first half. Sophomore goalkeeper Lou Butler kept George Mason off the board, however, and the game remained scoreless at the half.
Early in the second period, George Mason took the lead. At 51:23, Patriot midfielder Alex Alecci had her shot blocked by sophomore defender Alexandra Hardy, but scored off the rebound to give George Mason a 1-0 lead.
Senior forward Jessie Beers-Altman scored the equalizer for Georgetown 20 minutes later. Freshman forward Chrissy Skogen crossed the ball to junior midfielder Nicole DePalma, who then passed to Beers-Altman. Her second goal of the season hit the lower left corner of the net and tied the game.
In keeping with a recurring pattern of play at home, the Hoyas dominated play in the second half but were unable to score the winning goal. Georgetown had 11 shots to George Mason’s four in the second half.
“The offense has not seemed to be clicking yet, we’re all at a loss right now,” Drake said. “We’ve outshot three of the four teams we’ve lost to, we’ve had three times as many corner kicks as the teams we’ve played, but it’s just not happening yet.”
With the game tied at the end of regulation, Georgetown played in its first overtime game of the season. The extra period was short-lived, however, as George Mason’s junior midfielder Allison Cowan scored from 35 yards out as the ball eluded Butler’s reach for the golden goal.
“It’s not a lack of effort what happened [Tuesday],” Drake said. “They played better. We moved the ball better but made just one mistake. There was some miscommunication and we gave up another soft goal.”
Georgetown, which was undefeated at home last year, has lost all three of its games on North Kehoe this season. The Hoyas were also held to one goal or less for the fourth game in a row, which happened only seven times all year. Although the Hoyas’ play has improved over the past two games, the team has yet to approach its pre-season expectations.
“I feel like maybe the players are pressing too hard,” Drake said. “They need to try a little bit easier instead of trying so hard. We’ve tried different psychological things to make light of it, take the pressure off.”
Georgetown’s best opportunity to put together a significant winning streak may be within the next six games. The Hoyas’ opponents over that span had a combined record of 39-58-10 last season.
Coach Drake is still confident that her team will be able to turn the season around, and that her players are hungry for a win.
“I’ve always said you never want to play a good team after a bad loss,” Drake said. “Well, you never want to play a good team after four bad losses.”
Georgetown faces Yale at 1:30 p.m. today and Brown at 2 p.m. on Sunday in the ECAC Soccer Classic in Cape Cod.
