The Georgetown women’s soccer team (11-4-7, 6-0-3 Big East) lost a wild game 4-3 in overtime to No. 13 Virginia Tech (15-5-0, 5-5-0 ACC) on Friday at Penn State, ending the Hoyas’ season in the second round of the NCAA Championship.

The loss marked the third consecutive season that the team’s season ended in the second round. Georgetown’s 2-1 lead entering the final twelve minutes made the defeat particularly disappointing for the team.

The match featured seven goals, including three back-to-back goals in a span of three minutes in the second half. One of those goals was a brilliant curled strike from senior midfielder Daphne Corboz that added to the excitement of a goal-line clearance and solid defending from both sides.

“It was a very exciting game,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “I told the kids after the game that I know it’s tough to lose, but to be part of such a great soccer game between two teams that went at it, I said you should enjoy the moment. Here we are playing in the round of 32 with so many great programs at home. But they don’t hear that.”

The game opened poorly for the Hoyas as they conceded a simple head-goal off of a third-minute corner kick, highlighting how much the team missed the aerial prowess of injured junior defender Marina Paul.

“I don’t think it was a matter of the defenders not doing a good job, but when you start allowing teams to put long, diagonal balls in on top of you, with the conditions of the night, stuff can always happen,” Nolan said. “Conditions were difficult to defend in because of the icy field.”

Although the Hokies scored first in the match, Georgetown overcame the one-point deficit. At 8:44 mark of the first half, Corboz bent a shot into the top right corner to knot the game at 1-1, In the 60th minute of the match, senior forward Audra Ayotte gave the Hoyas a 2-1 lead.

“I have to give the kids a lot of credit, because after giving up a goal in the first minutes of the game against such an explosive team as Virginia Tech, we dug ourselves out of it and scored an absolutely wondrous goal by Daphne to make it 1-1,” Nolan said. “And then [the Hokies] were looking at it like, ‘Hang on, this Georgetown team’s not just going to roll over.’ And for the next part of the first half, we were better.”

Roughly halfway through the second half of the match, the game took a turn for the bizarre. The Hoyas conceded a tying 2-2 goal at the 77:22 mark, scored to retake the lead 3-2 at the 78:27 point then lost their advantage again on a tying goal from the Hokies one minute and 30 seconds later.

The game was tied at the end of regulation, but the score did not stay that way for long. Virginia Tech quickly found the back of the net thirty seconds into overtime, launching the golden goal that gave the Hokies an insurmountable 4-3 lead.

Corboz, who received the Big East Midfielder and Attacking Player of the Year honors, was particularly heartbroken at the defeat. The match was her last as a Hoya.

“It will be very tough to get over this loss,” Corboz said. “I knew I would be devastated upon the end of my college career, but to lose a game in overtime, especially when you’re leading with less than 10 minutes left with a chance to get into the Sweet Sixteen for the first time, is very tough. However, losing 4-3 in overtime to a team that beat us 6-1 earlier in the season is a credit to the improvement of our team.”

While the season-ending defeat was disappointing, Georgetown’s young defense showed signs of improvement from earlier in the season. Nevertheless, the Hoyas were unable to stop the barrage of Hokie goals during the final ten minutes of the match.

Nolan credited Virginia Tech for its resolve after falling 3-2 to go right back down the field and score.

“It’s always a disappointment when you lose the last game of the season, especially because we had put ourselves in a position where we could have won it,” Nolan said. “It’s tough when you come up a little bit short when you’ve done so well. But you have to give Virginia Tech credit for not going away when we got up on them, and they were always dangerous … They can hurt you in a variety of ways.”

Corboz acknowledged that the game was one of the wildest matches she had ever taken part in.

“It definitely was a crazy one, obviously, with three goals in the span of [three minutes],” Corboz said. “It’s especially disappointing because when we were fortunate to get the lead back off the kickoff at 3-2 with less than 10 minutes left, we have to be able to seal the result… [B]ut that is what happens when you let up against a great team.”