While most students will spend this Columbus Day weekend relaxing on campus or returning home, the Hoyas will have amassed 2,967 miles of travel by the time classes resume.
Georgetown (8-3-0, 1-2-0 Big East) will travel to Tampa, Fla. to play South Florida (2-5-1, 1-2-0 Big East) today followed by a trip to Milwaukee to face No. 24 Marquette (9-1-1, 2-1-0 Big East).
The journey began yesterday evening when Georgetown boareded a plane for Tampa for a game tonight against South Florida in a Big East match-up pivotal for both teams. A 9:30 flight tomorrow morning will take the team to Milwaukee for their Sunday afternoon game.
Sounds hard enough right? Add in midterms and the Hoyas have themselves in for a very busy weekend.
“It’s really tough,” senior forward Sara Jordan said. “I have two exams, two papers, and a group presentation due next week, but it’s something you know coming into Georgetown that you have to expect.”
South Florida enters tonight’s game with two losses in conference, both to ranked opponents. In a span of seven days the Bulls lost to Marquette 1-0 and No. 21 Connecticut 1-0. But Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan said his team must remain focused.
“[South Florida] has been in every game,” he said. “They out shot Connecticut and narrowly lost. Because of their athleticism and because of their new coach [Denise Schilte-Brown], who has them fired up, it will be a tough game.”
The Bulls will be led by junior forward Lindsay Brauer and senior midfielder Autumn Browning, both of whom have two goals on the season. Brauer led the team last season with nine goals.
After South Florida, Georgetown will have little time to prepare for a Marquette team that returns all but three starters from last year’s team that made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“It’s tough playing two road games in a row,” Nolan said. “The nature of the Friday-Sunday schedule is that you never really get to fully prepare for your Sunday opponent because you are preparing for the Friday one. You need to get the first game, and then hope you can get the Sunday one.”
Georgetown will have to be sharp on Sunday if they plan to knock off the Golden Eagles. Marquette is led by sophomore forward Ashley Bares, who has seven goals this season, and senior midfielder Christy Zwolski, who has four. Marquette is still reeling from a 5-0 bashing on the road at the hands of Connecticut on Nov. 30 and will be looking to right their ship against the Hoyas.
Georgetown is still looking for a marquee win, and Sunday, against a team that has recorded 11 or more wins in 11 straight seasons, could provide that. Jordan, as a senior, is well aware of the Hoyas’ many near misses in the past few years against the top teams, including a 1-0 loss last year against then-No. 1 Notre Dame.
“We all know Marquette is one of the top teams in the Big East and the country,” Jordan said. “Obviously a win would be huge, and we know we can do it even though we have come up on the short end of the stick against the top teams in our conference. I think we’re motivated to prove to everyone that we are a good team this year, and Marquette would be a great game to do that.”
The win against Marquette would be a big step for the team, but Nolan knows that the first stop of their road trip is the most important.
“We need to come away with at least one win this weekend,” he said. “It would be great if we could get two. Even a win and a tie would be fantastic, but we need to come back with one win. Every game in the league has been a one-goal game basically and it is all a matter of who lands the biggest punch.”