Senior forward Henley Tippins scored the single goal in a 1-0 match to propel the No. 7/12 Georgetown University women’s soccer team (13-2-2, 9-0 Big East) to a win over the Villanova University Wildcats (9-7, 4-4 Big East) Oct. 22 in their last home game of the regular season.
The Hoyas’ first chance came two minutes into the game when a ball from the right side of the box fell to senior midfielder Shay Montgomery, who couldn’t keep her effort under the crossbar.
In the sixth minute, the Hoyas generated two corner kicks; junior defender Kaya Hanson steered the second one goalwards, but Villanova goalie Hannah Dickinson kept it out.
Georgetown’s next chance came in the 14th minute when graduate forward and captain Maja Lardner drove down the left side and played a ball to Tippins, whose flicked effort was deflected and fell back to Lardner, whose volley was also deflected out for a corner. On the corner, redshirt senior midfielder Mary Cochran whipped it in for a Hanson header that just missed the left post.
Five minutes later, senior forward Natalie Means blitzed down the left side and crossed to Tippins, who tried another flick which rolled just beyond the far post.
With 18 minutes left to go in the half, junior defender Isabel Boodell made a crucial tackle to prevent a shot from around six yards out, Villanova’s best chance of the night.
A minute later, the ball fell to Tippins just past midfield, who threaded it through to Lardner. Lardner moved in towards goal down the right side, but Dickinson closed the angle and saved the shot.
In the 32nd minute, Tippins squared the ball for Means at the top of the box, whose effort curled just over the crossbar.
With five minutes left in the half, Means drove down the left side again and crossed to Lardner, who sent the ball just wide of the front post. A minute later, sophomore midfielder Caroline Spengler curled a beautiful ball to Tippins, whose header went over the crossbar.
Georgetown outshot Villanova 17-2 in the half. Five of the Hoyas’ shots were on target and they conceded none on target, but the teams were still deadlocked at the break.
The Hoyas started the second half back on the attack, and soon got their go-ahead goal. In the 49th minute, Means played a square ball across the box, which bounced to Tippins, who drove past a defender and sent a low shot across her body and past the goalie, giving Georgetown a 1-0 lead.
After the restart, the Hoyas immediately took the ball back and attacked; Lardner laced a ball from the left edge of the box, which was parried smartly by Dickinson.
Georgetown continued attacking, with Means and Montgomery having shots blocked inside the box in the 58th minute.
Two minutes later, Means wiggled through Villanova’s center backs but could only muster a tame effort from close range, which Dickinson claimed.
Georgetown kept possession into the next period of the game but could not muster anything to seriously trouble Dickinson.
In the 79th minute, Montgomery drew a foul at the top of the box on the left side. The shot curled over the wall, beating Dickinson clean, but clipped off the top of the crossbar and back into play. Georgetown kept the ball and came back down the right side; Spengler crossed a great ball for Means, whose effort was stopped by Dickinson on the goalline.
In the 84th minute, Lardner picked up the ball from a throw-in and cut across the field before curling an effort from the edge of the box which bent just around the far post.
A minute later, Lardner was sprung down the right wing by Means before she unleashed a strike from inside the box, which was tipped over for a corner kick. The corner fell to Boodell on the back post, but her effort only met the side-netting. The game ended 1-0 for the Hoyas.
Head Coach Dave Nolan said he was happy with the team’s performance despite only winning by a goal, which made for a stressful end to the evening.
“We were a little bit unlucky,” Nolan told The Hoya. “We had a couple of good chances, a couple of good scrambles. We hit the crossbar. We got a number of good crosses across the face of goal.”
“Sometimes on a day like that, you start to feel that it’s not going to be your night, and maybe the other team will score on their only chance,” Nolan added. “But give the kids credit. They took care of business, and we got the three points, which is ultimately what we wanted to do.”
Nolan stressed that while the Hoyas could have scored more goals, the result was important in the broader context of what has become a historic season for the team.
“We did something tonight that we’ve never done, in that we’ve won nine conference games in a row and in a season,” Nolan said.
The Hoyas finish their regular season at Xavier University Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. Xavier is second in the Big East, behind only Georgetown. If the Musketeers beat Marquette University on Saturday, they will be two points out of first place, so the winner of the Xavier-Georgetown game would win the Big East regular-season title.
