The No. 17 Georgetown women’s soccer team notched a 1-0 victory over the St. John’s Red Storm in its Big East Conference opener Sunday and defeated the DePaul Blue Demons 4-0 on Thursday.
Junior forward Caitlin Farrell scored a late goal inside the upper far post to lift the Hoyas (8-2-1, 2-0 Big East) over the Red Storm (4-5-1, 0-1 Big East). The Hoya defense did not surrender any scoring chances in the final nine minutes.
Coming off a 2-0 victory over Towson (3-6-2, 0-1 Colonial Athletic) last Sunday, Georgetown controlled possession for most of the game but struggled to find the back of the net during the first 80 minutes of play.
“We had plenty of the ball. We had the ball in all of the spots we would want. We just couldn’t quite get that final pass,” Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “They were blocking passing plays and blocking shots. They were forcing us to take bad shots, and that’s the sign of a well-coached team.”
Regarding the team’s offensive struggles, Nolan felt that the Hoyas could have been a little more patient, but he recognized that nerves might also have been a factor.
“For us, we needed to be a little bit more patient. I think we were a little bit nervy. The first conference game is always a little bit nervy. We had a tough game with them last year. We tied with them up at St. John’s, so we knew it was going to be a good game,” Nolan said.
Nolan credited St. John’s Head Coach Ian Stone for his consistency when it came to preparing the Red Storm for challenging the top 20-ranked Hoya squad.
“It’s tough. They’re a good team. They’re a very well-coached team. Ian is certainly one of the best coaches in our conference, if not the country, and he does a very good job preparing his team for games,” Nolan said. “He’ll always give his team their best chance to win a game, and he did that today.”
Farrell said that, despite some of their struggles, the Hoyas believed they would eventually break the tie late in the game.
“We were struggling a little bit in the final third just making all those connections happen, but we knew eventually we were going to break them down, and we were going to get that goal, and that ended up happening, which was great,” Farrell said. “We really came through in the end, which was good.”
The Hoyas travelled to Chicago for their next conference game against DePaul (4-6-1, 0-0-2 Big East), notching their first conference away victory of the season with a 4-0 win at Wish Field on Thursday night.
“Momentum is everything. If you don’t win your first game, then there’s extra pressure on you to win your second game, and if you don’t win your second game, all of a sudden now you’re in a spiral,” Nolan said before the game.
Farrell recognized the challenges of competing in the Big East Conference and how important it is for Georgetown to focus on one game at a time.
“The Big East is a tough conference,” Farrell said before the game. “Each game is a Cup Final, so just use that mentality, and keep it going all the way through.”
Georgetown was led by senior midfielder Rachel Corboz, who kicked off the scoring at the 27th minute, and redshirt sophomore forward Amanda Carolan, who found the back of the net in the 37th and 43rd minutes.
The Hoyas added a fourth goal three minutes into the second half to conclude the scoring for the game. This victory extends Georgetown’s streak of shutouts to six.
Georgetown squares off with Seton Hall (3-6-1, 0-2 Big East) this Sunday at 1 p.m. at Shaw Field.
