Hoya Staff Writer Friday, September 1, 2006

You can’t always get what you want and you don’t always get what you deserve. Such was the painful lesson that Georgetown’s women’s soccer team took away from two draws last weekend, one against Binghamton on Friday and another to Davidson on Sunday. The Hoyas finished at a 2-2 draw on Friday in what Head Coach Dave Nolan called a “disappointing” match. “The first goal was really just a Hail Mary, the girl kicked it and she didn’t even see it. Before we knew it, we messed up on a set piece and they scored their second goal,” he said. The two fluke plays aside, the Hoyas outplayed the Bearcats, racking up 16 shots to Binghamton’s five, and five corner kicks to Binghamton’s zero. “After their second goal, the rest of the game was pretty much us. They really never pushed the ball into our half. We had tons of possession and tons of half chances; we just couldn’t really create a killer chance,” Nolan said. Despite sporting one of the top goalkeepers in the conference (junior Jade Higgins) and what Nolan touts as “the best team we’ve ever had,” Georgetown fell prey to misfortune and some extra adrenaline on Binghamton’s side. Still, Nolan believes that the Hoyas could and should have won the game. “It’s unfortunate we caught them in their first game, they were fired up,” he said. “If we had to play them on Sunday, it would have been a much different result as. We were disappointed with the result, but not with the performance, because the girls played really hard.” Senior midfielder Cristina Araps scored in the 13th minute on a long run down the left side of the field and a well placed shot. Junior forward Elaina Filauro scored in the 64th minute from an assist by junior defender Karen Waskewich. Sunday, however, Georgetown faced an opponent of a significantly different ilk. Davidson, a member of the Southern Conference, finished last season in the NCAA tournament, seeded in the Southeast region, a position usually reserved for teams from major conferences like the ACC and SEC. “Davidson is a very good team. I knew physically they would be a handful for us. They’re very direct and they’re very well coached,” Nolan said. The Wildcats played the part, tallying 16 shots to Georgetown’s eight and 12 corner-kicks to Georgetown’s four. The Hoyas took the lead early when senior midfielder Chrissy Skogen flicked in a header in the fifth minute, handing the all-important early momentum to Georgetown. But in the second half, strong winds from the Chesapeake Bay wreaked havoc in the Georgetown defense, giving Davidson a decided offensive advantage which translated into ten corner kicks. Among the game’s key plays were two potential second-half Georgetown goals that were waved off on account of off-side violations. “[There was] one was a very bad call by the official and within the space of two minutes after that, we had what I thought should have been a penalty call but the referee chose to look the other way,” Nolan said. Immediately following the no-call in the penalty area, the Wildcats scored the equalizer, knotting the game at one. Despite the potential miscues by the referees, Nolan felt the game’s outcome was a fair one. “I think Davidson would have been a little harshly treated if they didn’t get at least a draw out of the game because they played well,” he said. Higgins, normally the backbone of the Hoya defense, was the victim of poor defense and bad luck in the two weekend games and is expected to continue serving as the leader on whom Georgetown depended for nine shutouts last year. On the other end of the field, however, Sara Jordan, a junior midfielder and the Hoyas’ best offensive player, is expected to be out for at least another month with illness. Georgetown plays host to the D.C. Invitational this weekend with another Friday/Sunday lineup, this time against George Mason and Duquesne, respectively. This weekend’s rainy forecast may hinder Georgetown in two games that it has a legitimate chance to win, according to Nolan. “The rain is sometimes a nullifier and it will bring the better team back down to the weaker team. It may enable the other teams to stay with us,” he said. Both games will be played at 3 p.m. on North Kehoe Field.