Sometimes the wind is at your back and sometimes it’s in your face. For Georgetown this weekend it was a combination of both, figuratively and literally. The Hoyas (8-3-0, 1-2-0 Big East) split their games this weekend with a 1-0 win on Friday over Seton Hall (5-3-2, 1-1-1 Big East) and a 2-1 loss on Sunday at Rutgers (6-3-1, 1-1-1 Big East).
On Friday, Georgetown, ranked 9th in the mid-Atlantic region, faced off against 14th-ranked Seton Hall on windy North Kehoe Field. Last season the Pirates edged the Hoyas 1-0 in South Orange, N.J., and Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan knew that this year’s contest would be important for his team to have a chance at making the Big East tournament.
“To be 0-2 in the conference heading into a five game road trip is not a good hole to put yourself in,” he said.
With the wind in their faces in the first half, the Hoyas were unable to create many scoring opportunities and made life easy for Seton Hall senior goalkeeper Amanda Becker. The one real challenge for Becker in the first stanza came in the 22nd minute when senior defender Karen Waskewich sent in one of Georgetown’s 12 corner kicks. The wind had been playing tricks with the corners the entire half, but this time Waskewich sent the ball towards the goal towards freshman defender Michaela Buonomo. Buonomo headed the ball toward the goal, but Becker made an athletic save to keep the score deadlocked.
Both teams were unable to seriously threaten for the rest of the half, and the teams went into halftime in a scoreless tie.
At halftime, Georgetown changed looks. Seton Hall’s 3-5-2 alignment with five midfielders caused problems for Georgetown by keeping the ball in the middle of the field. The 3-5-2 system, not usually seen in the women’s game, is a high risk, high reward formation, and until the middle of the second half, the Pirates’ three defenders had not been burned.
“[Georgetown] came out in the second half and started connecting on some chances and we unfortunately couldn’t do the same,” Seton Hall Head Coach Kazbek Tambi said.
After having three corner kicks denied by Becker in a span of five minutes, Georgetown was finally able to find the back of the goal. Sophomore midfielder Toni Marie Hudson challenged a Seton Hall defender and sent a cross to junior midfielder Stephanie Zare. Zare quickly passed to her left to senior midfielder Sarah Fetters who beat Becker to give Georgetown a 1-0 lead.
“I concentrated on not ripping the ball but placing it,” Fetters said of her third goal of the season. “In the game, though, you are just going on adrenaline and luckily I had composure.”
All season long Fetters has jumpstarted the Hoyas off the bench, with Friday serving as one of her best performances of the season.
“Besides the goal her play was really good today,” Nolan said of Fetters. “She’s a really sparky player and that is what we want. She’s a huge asset to the team.”
Seton Hall was unable to amount a sizeable attack, and Georgetown held on for the 1-0 victory, its first in Big East play. The Hoyas’ defense had the Pirates in fits all game limiting them to only four shots, two of which were on goal.
There was little time for Georgetown to savor the victory as they traveled to New Brunswick, N.J., to take on Rutgers, which is ranked eighth in the mid-Atlantic region, at Yurcak Field.
The Hoyas got on the board first in the 22nd minute when Waskewich sent a corner towards the box. Zare received the ball on the right side of the penalty area and sent a shot that got past sophomore goalkeeper Erin Guthrie to put Georgetown ahead 1-0.
The Scarlet Knights tied it up in the 29th minute on a free kick by sophomore midfielder Gina DeMaio. DeMaio sent the shot to the top corner past freshman goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin for her fourth goal of the season.
“She made a great shot. She put it in the top corner where goaltenders can’t get it and good players can put it,” Nolan said. “From their point of view it was a good free kick, but for me I was disappointed because I felt it shouldn’t have been a free kick.”
The Hoyas applied tremendous pressure on Rutgers the entire half, including seven corner kicks, but were unable to add another goal as the game was tied 1-1 at the half.
The second half saw the Hoyas facing a strong wind and a stout defense. Suddenly all the bounces that led to the Georgetown’s seven corner kicks did not go in their favor. The usually potent offense was only able to get one corner kick and one shot on goal in the second half.
The Scarlet Knights took advantage of the Hoyas’ struggles in the 68th minute when sophomore forward Kristie Lang beat DesJardin to put them up 2-1. DeMaio beat her defender and sent the ball toward the box where Lang gathered it and sent the game-winning goal into the net.
“I was disappointed with it,” Nolan said of the goal. “I thought we could have done a better job with it.”
The Hoyas tried to put pressure back on the Rutgers defense, but were unable to get an equalizer. The loss was the second conference loss for the Hoyas who travel to Tampa to face South Florida (2-5-1, 1-2-0) Friday night.