The Georgetown women’s soccer team has watched its strong start dissipate as the losses start to accumulate. After opening with two large-margin victories, the Hoyas have faltered and lost two of their last three games to fall to .500 on the season.
Competing in its second tournament in as many weekends, Georgetown (3-3-0) faced off against William & Mary (2-2-2) in the first round of the George Mason/Burger King Invitational Thursday afternoon. Despite taking 16 shots, the Hoyas could not find the net and fell to the Tribe 3-0.
William & Mary got on the board early and never looked back. Sophomore midfielder Anna Young put the Tribe on the board less than nine minutes into the game when she netted a pass from teammate junior forward Lydia Sturgis.
The Hoyas stepped up their defense and kept the Tribe from scoring again in the first half, but William & Mary sealed the victory with two second-half goals.
Freshman goalkeeper Jade Higgins almost stopped the final goal, but she could not control the rebound and Tribe sophomore forward Katie Hogwood put it away for the final tally of the match.
On Sunday, in the final game of the Invitational, the Hoyas faced the host Patriots of George Mason (2-3-1). Former Georgetown Head Coach Diane Drake, now the head coach of the Patriots, was able to record a win over her previous team 3-1.
For most of the first half, the game remained tight with both teams battling for control. As time wound down to halftime, the Patriots were finally able to get on the board, scoring off a corner kick.
Junior defender Kristin Portell took the corner kick, which was collected by senior forward Sarah Wilkinson, who settled the ball and passed it to freshman defender Jessica Paris for her first career collegiate goal.
The Patriots took the 1-0 lead into halftime and did not score again until the 71st minute, when Wilkinson scored on a long shot from 25 yards out.
The Hoyas were the next to get on the board, narrowing the score to 2-1 with a goal from freshman midfielder Sara Jordan with assists going to sophomore midfielder Christina Araps and senior forward Casey McCann.
That was as close as the Hoyas were going to get, though, as Wilkinson scored her second goal of the contest less than four minutes later on a rebound from teammate sophomore midfielder L.J. Williams’ shot that bounced off the post.
In the early game on Saturday afternoon, William & Mary defeated Harvard 1-0 to win the tournament. The Crimson finished second and the Tribe took home third.
On Friday the Hoyas will travel to Pittsburgh to open Big East play against the Panthers (3-2-0). In their only meeting last year, Pittsburgh defeated Georgetown 2-1. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
