Coming into this season, the Georgetown women’s soccer team (5-5-0 overall, 2-1 BE) had nowhere to go but up. They looked to improve on a 7-11-1 record last year, which included a 0-6 record in Big East Conference play.
Preseason polls had the Hoyas ranked ninth in the Big East, and the team returned its leading scorer, junior striker Shara McNeil, as well as a senior captain in every third of the field. After 10 games, the Hoyas have already come close to matching their win total from a year ago.
“The key to our improvement is taking care of business at home,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “We need to win the winnable games, which we have done, and stay close in the tougher matches and hope we get some luck.”
The team started out winning its first two games against Howard and Bucknell, but then lost four of its next five contests. The Hoyas struggled against out-of-conference opponents Dartmouth, William & Mary, George Mason and cross-town rival American, despite putting more shots on goal and generating more scoring chances then their opponents.
That stretch of five games was an important time of growth for Georgetown’s relatively inexperienced defense. Four out of the five Hoyas’ defensive starters are first-years.
Nolan was aware entering this season that it would “take awhile for them to gel.”
After that stretch, the team shutout Big East foes St. John’s and Providence by a combined score of 4-0.
Nolan is satisfied with Georgetown’s start to the Big East season.
“The defense is doing a much better job [than earlier in the year],” he said.
This has caused a renewed sense of confidence among the players.
“The team is getting better and better each game,” Nicole DePalma, a senior midfielder and co-captain, said. “We are developing as a team and everyone is really happy with the way we have been playing.”
In Georgetown’s last game, the Hoyas almost knocked off last year’s runners-up at UConn. Georgetown was leading 1-0 at halftime, but UConn came out firing in the second half and scored two goals within the first five minutes.
“They are stacked with national team players,” Nolan said.
The Huskies went on to win 3-1 despite a spirited Hoyas challenge.
“We have to play for a full 90 minutes,” Nolan said. “It takes us awhile to get into the pace of the game coming out of the half.”
Despite the up and down nature of the season’s first half, the team believes it has turned a corner and is confident in their ability to make some noise within the conference. Nolan and senior co-captain Elizabeth Roberti both agree that two more Big East wins should put the Hoyas in a secure place to make the Big East Tournament.
“This is the best Georgetown team we’ve had in awhile,” Roberti, a defender, said. “The freshmen have really picked it up and don’t act like freshmen when they’re out there.”
The team has an excellent opportunity to notch two more conference wins, as five of its last seven games are at home.
“This team has a 50 percent chance of winning this weekend’s game,” Nolan said about this weekend’s game against Rutgers.
Currently, the Hoyas are sixth in the Big East. But with eight first-years on the roster, the future is bright for Georgetown women’s soccer.
“I am really looking forward to watching this team in the future,” said Roberti. “We have a lot of potential.”
