For the No. 12 Georgetown women’s soccer team, the 2013 season couldn’t have started out any better. Exactly one-third of a way through their regular season schedule, the Hoyas sit at a perfect 6-0, having won their games by a combined score of 19-3.
With four full days off between last Sunday’s 3-0 shutout of Delaware and this Friday’s match against Yale, one might think that the Hoyas would take some time to relax and soak in the sweetness of their victories. Head Coach Dave Nolan, however, knows better than to become complacent.
“I want us to get better,” Nolan said. “I’m always at these guys that it’s not just about the result, it’s about how we play and getting better.”
In Nolan’s mind, Sunday’s shutout over the Blue Hens was a missed opportunity to do just that.
“I thought we had a good chance to take a big step forward [against Delaware],” said Nolan. “I wanted us to build [on our two previous victories] and put in a complete performance, but we didn’t. We put in 45 minutes in the second half and that’s a little disappointing.”
After a week of practice, Friday afternoon’s match against the Yale Bulldogs (2-0) presents a fresh opportunity for Georgetown to make the desired improvements.
The Bulldogs pay a trip to the Hilltop coming off of a 3-1 win over UMass-Lowell and a 1-0 victory against Stony Brook. Yale, like all of the Ivy League, begins its season several weeks after the rest of Division I and therefore poses a unique challenge to the Hoyas.
“You don’t know with the Ivies because they start on such a different schedule,” Nolan said. “They could be fresh because it’s just their second week or they could be unprepared.”
The tale of the tape, however, would seem to give the advantage to Georgetown.
While the Hoyas set a school record with 16 wins last year, the Bulldogs were merely a game over .500 and finished only 1-4-2 in the Ivy League.
Compared to Georgetown, whose starting 11 is full of upperclassmen, Yale has only two seniors in its starting lineup.
Finally, only three Bulldog players, Frannie Coxe, Geny Decker and Melissa Gavin, have managed to tally points thus far this season. That will be an issue when Yale is forced to attack against the all-senior Georgetown defense of Colleen Dinn, Mary Kroening, Emily Menges and Alexa St. Martin, and redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Emily Newins, who shut out their last three opponents. For her efforts in last week’s games against NC State and Delaware, Kroening was named the Big East defensive player of the week.
Despite a matchup seemingly tilted in his favor, Nolan is making sure not to overlook his squad’s opponent.
“[Yale Head Coach Rudy Meredith] is such a good coach, and he’s got a couple of good players,” Nolan said. “We’ll treat them like we treat every other team; we want to step on the field and play well and let them worry about us.”
For Georgetown, all eyes will be on junior midfielder Daphne Corboz, the preseason Big East offensive player of the year who made her season debut on Sunday after missing the first five games of the year due to a leg injury.
Nolan seems to be set on easing his star attacker back into the swing of things.
“It’ll take a couple of games for her to get back to herself,” said Nolan.
When asked if she thought she had any chance of starting against Yale, Corboz responded, “It’s not up to me.”
Corboz, who recorded an assist on the Hoyas’ third goal against Delaware, will provide a sizeable boost to an already potent Georgetown attack when she returns to full health.
“When Daphne is on the field we play a certain way because she tends to dominate so much of what we do,” said Nolan.
Kickoff against Yale is slated for 3 p.m. Friday on Shaw Field.
