There’s no place like home. Georgetown may not have been walking down the yellow brick road with Dorothy, but they still enjoyed the friendly confines of North Kehoe after five straight games on the road.
“It was nice because we had some fans there, as opposed to the other games,” freshman midfielder Caitlin Durkee said about her first home game on the Hilltop.
The Hoyas (5-1-0) held a team scoreless for the fifth time this season en route to a 1-0 decision over American (4-1-0) Wednesday on North Kehoe Field.
It was another strong day for an offense that has scored 11 goals in six games this season. Georgetown had 21 shots in the game, eight on goal, compared to American’s 5 shots, none of which were on goal.
“This year we are the team that has set the tone of the game, and we are the ones pushing everything,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said.
As has been the trend in many of the games this season, the Hoyas waited until the second half to get on the scoreboard. Despite 10 first-half shots, the Blue and Gray was unable to find the back of the net. American goalkeeper Hannah Radley stopped three Georgetown shots in the first half.
In the 58th minute the Hoyas got their best chance and took advantage. Junior midfielder Stephanie Zare received a pass and found a trailing Durkee in the middle. She sent the pass to Durkee who dribbled and quickly ripped a shot from the top right corner of the box past Radley to give the Hoyas a 1-0 lead. It was the first collegiate goal for the freshman.
“It was great scoring, especially because it was the game winner,” she said. “As the season has gone on I’ve taken more shots so I hope to get my percentage on them up and score some more.”
“She got lucky,” Nolan laughed as he stood next to Durkee. “She has great range on her shooting and her passing so we expect her to contribute more and more as the season progresses.”
Georgetown’s defense continued its superb play: The defense has only given up two goals, both in a 2-1 loss at James adison, and has only allowed 12 shots on goal thus far. While the defense is playing exceptionally, the Hoyas are proving the best defense is a good offense.
“Our offense has helped us out tremendously because we have the ball more,” Nolan said. “Last year we didn’t have the ball enough and our back four were overworked. This year our defense has a combination of experience and inexperience but it has worked out well so far.”
Georgetown’s 5-1 record matches the best in program history. With two important home games coming up this weekend, the team looks to build momentum for the Big East season, which will kick off next Friday at home versus rival Villanova.
“Winning these two games this weekend are very important because momentum is everything,” Nolan said. “Good momentum or bad momentum can take you one way or the other.”
The Hoyas look for a hard fought game today when they play St. Joseph’s at 3 p.m. on North Kehoe Field. St. Joe’s enters at 2-2 having lost their last game 6-0 to Penn.
On Sunday, the Hoyas wrap up their non-conference schedule against Delaware at noon on North Kehoe Field. Delaware comes in with a record of 3-1. Their only loss was in their first game of the season to No. 17 Virginia. Nolan sees Delaware as similar to James Madison and thinks it will be a good test for his squad.
“They’re a tough team. They’re very explosive up front and I think it will be the biggest challenge for our defense. It will set us up nicely for the Villanova game,” he said.
With these two challenges in store for them, Nolan and the team are happy to at least be back home with all the advantages it provides.
“We got Delaware and St. Joe’s at home so I really think that will give us an advantage in a close game,” he said.