The Georgetown women’s soccer team chose the wrong time to pick a fight with No. 18 Connecticut last friday. The Huskies were coming off an embarrassing loss to unranked Yale and took their anger out on the Hoyas, winning 5-0.
Georgetown is still seeking a berth to the postseason Big East tournament and was looking to redeem itself after a sluggish 3-0 loss to Villanova. While the Hoyas played a solid game, they were outmatched.
“I thought we did a good job, and it was only 1-0 after halftime,” Head Coach Diane Drake said. “You never want to play a top-10 or 15 team after they suffer a tough loss, but we put together one of our better performances.”
The Huskies got the only goal they needed on a header from Kristin Gardiner 36:41 into the first half. Although the game remained tight at halftime, the floodgates opened, as the Huskies poured in four second half goals. Senior goalkeeper Emily Main, who had a hectic day, saved nine shots.
“They had a lot of shot opportunities in the first half, but in the second half they changed their strategy and started to dribble deeper into the field,” Drake said. “We couldn’t match them physically.”
For the third time in four games, the powerful Hoya offense failed to notch a point on the scoreboard. Sophomore forward Karin Ostrander had a great chance to score with 30 seconds to go in the game, but Connecticut goalie Erin Rice made an even greater save to keep the shutout intact.
“I’m not worried about our offense,” Drake said. “It’s always very tough to score against Connecticut, and we’re not going to face a team like Villanova that is going to bunker down and keep six or seven people in defense.”
In the losing cause, the Hoyas received standout performances from senior midfielder Liz Delgado and junior forward Kelly Piatanesi, who made her first start of the season.
With three games left in the season, all of which are on the road, Georgetown must use its upcoming games at the Florida International on Friday and at Miami on Sunday as a way to build momentum when it faces division rival West Virginia on Oct. 25. This game, unarguably the most important game of the season, will determine whether the Hoyas go to the Big East Tournament or return back home to regroup for another season. A win or a tie will keep the 2000 campaign alive.
The key to the rest of the season lies in the defense, which has been solid in some games while sloppy in others.
“If we have a good, strong defense, we’ll get to the Big East dance,” Drake said. “We’ve given away a lot of soft goals this season.”
Even though Georgetown lost on Friday at Connecticut, the game served as the first step to recovering from a couple of upsetting losses the team had against Notre Dame and Villanova recently.
“The Notre Dame game destroyed us emotionally, and it was hard to handle because we thought we’d be a lot closer to them,” Drake said. “And at Villanova, we probably put on one of the lowest performances of our season.”
However, the overall solid performance against the Huskies is what the Hoyas will need to show in the final homestretch and most importantly at West Virginia.
Related Links
Women’s Soccer Team Page
Women’s Soccer Schedule
Women’s Soccer Roster
