Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better.

Such was the case with the Georgetown women’s field hockey team as they endured an embarrassing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Providence College on Saturday, before turning things around the very next day and defeating Brown University 1-0.

The Hoyas got off to a nightmare start to their Big East campaign with the first conference game held away at Providence, R.I. The loss was their sixth in the first seven games of the young season.

The Providence Friars (5-2, 1-0) came out blazing in the first half, recording 16 shots and converting three of those into goals, whereas the Hoyas (2-6, 0-1) took only three shots and did not score.

Providence senior defender Michalagh Stoddard was the first to get on the scoreboard with an 11th-minute strike off an assist by junior midfielder Jessica Lane. Lane was again responsible for assisting a goal at the 15-minute mark, when her pass found the stick of senior forward Abby Maguire. Freshman midfielder Julie Ruggieri’s 26th-minute strike, assisted by sophomore forward Nellie Poulin, took Providence into halftime with a 3-0 lead.

Although the Georgetown defense dug in and allowed Providence only seven shots in the second period, Providence was still able to score twice more. The fourth goal was a mirror image of the first, with Stoddard scoring off a Lane assist at 48 minutes, while aguire also grabbed her second of the night with a 53rd-minute strike off an assist by freshman forward Ashlyn Hudson.

After the defeat at the hands of Providence, the Hoyas went into Sunday’s game against Brown with nothing to lose but yet another game.

Junior goalkeeper Deirdre Crovo earned her career’s first clean sheet, however, as she pulled off seven saves and shut out Brown completely. With the 1-0 win, the Hoyas improved their record to 2-6, while the Bears remained winless at 0-5.

The lone goal of the night came in the first half from sophomore forward Lindsay Moramarco, scoring off an assist by sophomore midfielder Alice Murnen in the 11th minute. The Hoyas’ defense then took charge, allowing the Bears only 10 shots in the first period – a marked improvement from the game against Providence – while the Hoya offense responded with eight shots of their own.

The second half saw both teams tighten up their defenses even more, with both Georgetown and Brown managing just six shots each. Georgetown held its lead and picked up its second win of the season.

Georgetown’s back-to-back games come at the end of a busy week for the team, which has earned a break until Sept. 22 when it will travel to Lewisburg, Pa., to face Bucknell University.

The Bison are 4-3 on the season and coming off of a 1-0 win against LaSalle. Last Sept. 23, Georgetown took out Bucknell 4-3 on Kehoe Field on the strength of goals by four different players.