It was a rollercoaster ride of a weekend for Georgetown (11-5-0, 4-4-0), which held a 3-1 lead Friday against No. 25 West Virginia (11-4-1, 7-1,1) before giving up four second-half goals and losing 5-3. The Hoyas then amassed another 3-1 lead on Sunday against Pittsburgh(6-9-1, 1-7-1), only to see it shrink before recovering for a 4-2 victory.
The Hoyas got off to a quick start with an offensive explosion against the Mountaineers.
Down 1-0 after a goal by senior forward Ashley Banks, Georgetown responded quickly. In the 33rd minute, junior midfielder Stephanie Zare crossed a pass to the right side of the penalty area to senior forward Elaina Filauro. Filauro’s shot hit the post and squeezed into the frame to tie the game at one apiece.
That was not all for Filauro. The senior found the back of the goal 10 minutes later when, in heavy traffic, she was able to head in junior forward Brittany Berry’s pass to give the Blue and Gray a 2-1 advantage.
The two goals were the captain’s first of the season after missing extended time due to a knee injury.
“Elaina is a real hardworking kid,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said of Filauro. “She’d run through a wall for you. Her second goal showed that. It was just a brave play where she stuck her head in where people’s boots were.”
The Hoyas stayed on the attack in the beginning of the second half. A West Virginia foul in the penalty area in the 60th minute gave Wells a chance at an easy goal. The freshman phenom fooled freshman goalkeeper Kerrie Butler to put Georgetown up 3-1.
With a 3-1 lead and only 30 minutes to play the Hoyas looked to be in control, but the high-powered Mountaineer offense was not finished.
“A 3-1 lead against West Virginia is nothing,” Nolan said. “They’re a team that can score goals, and a team that will play and play until the end.”
The Mountaineers showed their resilience, staying on the attack for the majority of the second half.
In the 78th minute, with Georgetown holding a 3-2 lead, disaster struck.
West Virginia took advantage of a defensive lapse by Georgetown causing freshman goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin to come out of the net to play the ball. While going for the ball DesJardin leveled Banks and was shown a red card.
Senior goalkeeper Jade Higgins replaced DesJardin in the net behind a tired Georgetown team that now found itself a player down. It was the first action all season for Higgins who has been hampered by injuries.
“Playing a man down at a time when our team was most tired just made us vulnerable,” Filauro said. “We gave up shots and weren’t organized. They have really good forwards and they were able to capitalize on us not playing our game.”
The Mountaineers took advantage of Georgetown’s tired legs, producing six shots in 12 minutes, three for goals. Junior midfielder Kim Bonilla tied the game at 3-3 in the 81st minute. Banks then followed with two more goals, her 10th and 11th of the season, in the last 10 minutes of play to give West Virginia the 5-3 victory.
“We became a little tentative on defense,” Nolan said. “The 3-1 lead flattered us. I don’t think we were two goals better than them at any point, but we got there and we should have done a better job of closing out the game.”
Nolan worried Friday’s devestating loss might have a carryover effect on his team in their game versus Pittsburgh on Sunday, but that was not the case.
“We were a little bit worried [about a carryover from Friday] because there was a lot of fatigue and frustration,” Zare said. “It was good to see even during warm-ups and then during the beginning of the game that everyone was definitely into it and ready to get a win.”
Senior forward Sara Jordan and Zare opened with two goals in the first 10 minutes to give the Hoyas a 2-0 lead. A Wells penalty kick goal in the 26th minute gave Georgetown a 3-0 lead.
“When we got to 3-0 we kind of sensed `now we can turn off,’ and we got ourselves in trouble,” Nolan said.
As on Friday, the Hoyas saw their lead dwindle after Wells’ goal. The Panthers rallied to within one goal, but a late goal by Daryn Towle halted the comeback and put Georgetown’s Big East championship aspirations back on track.
Next up for the Hoyas is a quick return trip to South Florida today in a game rescheduled from Oct. 5. Rains and lightning cancelled the game in the 69th minute with the score knotted 0-0. Had the game entered the 70th minute, it would have been an official contest and declared a tie. Instead, game time is set for 7 p.m. at USF Soccer Stadium.