Hoyas Defeat Owls To Keep Seven-Game Win Streak Alive

By Julie Wood

The Georgetown field hockey team gained yet another victory this weekend, defeating Temple, 3-2.

“We’re right where we want to be,” said Head Coach Laurie Carroll about the team’s 7-0 record.

Freshman back Elena Elster scored twice and senior midfielder Caitlin McLean added the game-winning goal in what Caroll called, “a great performance.”

The first goal for the Hoyas came in the 43rd minute by Elster on a penalty corner. She was assisted by senior midfielder Sarah Oglesby and junior midfielder Aubrey Bruggeman. The second goal came just two minutes later and was scored in the exact same fashion -Elster on a penalty corner assisted by Oglesby and Bruggeman.

Temple retaliated with a goal by Julian Leskiw, making the score 2-1. However, the Hoyas quickly came back with what proved to be the winning goal by McLean in the 52nd minute, her fourth goal of the season. At 63:10, Temple scored one final goal by Katie Ziomek off of a penalty corner assisted by Jessica Jaworski and Haley Dervinis, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the red-hot Hoyas, who are now off to one of their best starts ever.

Standout performers of the day certainly included Elster, who now leads the team in points, with 16 on seven goals and two assists, and Bruggeman, who is second and has 12 points on two goals and eight assists.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Herring saved nine of Temple’s 17 shots on goal. The Hoyas took 19 shots on goal.

Coach Carroll commented that the whole corner unit of Elster, Oglesby and Bruggeman functioned especially well against Temple. The Hoyas have been scoring the majority of their goals on penalty corners, prompting Carroll to identify drawing corners as one of the team’s key strategies.

As the Hoyas’ winning streak continues to increase, one would think that they would put more pressure on themselves and worry about maintaining their perfect record. However, Carroll says that the team has been especially good at focusing on one game at a time.

She explained how they decided to look at the season as made up of three parts of six games each. She said, “Breaking it down makes it less overwhelming.”

As for any weaknesses, Carroll identified the need to take advantage of opportunities that the team gets in the first half. ost of their goals have come in the second half of their games, even though they do get plenty of opportunities to score in the first half and especially in the first few minutes of games. Carroll said that there is a need to start quicker and to “finish” in the first half of games.

But with that to work on, Carroll still believes that the future of the team is bright, saying, “They’re getting better with every game. They finally believe they can compete with anyone.”

The Hoyas will put that statement to the test as they face Virginia Commonwealth on September 30 in Richmond, Va.