The Georgetown women’s soccer team (10-1-2, 5-1-1 BE) needed a two-goal performance from junior forward Toni Marie Hudson on Tuesday afternoon to turn a sluggish start against Syracuse (4-8-2, 1-5-1 BE) into a big 3-1 win.
“In big moments in big games, big players step up,” head coach Dave Nolan said. “That is what I asked of Toni at halftime, and that’s what she did. That’s the maturity that she has shown this year.”
The Orange got off to an aggressive start, but were unable to convert on any of their five first-half shots. The 16th-ranked Hoyas, meanwhile, had trouble connecting in the first half, and were lucky to enter halftime locked in a 0-0 tie.
“We came out really bad, really slow and lethargic,” Hudson said. “I don’t know where our focus was today. It was a little bit better in the second half, but we shouldn’t have come out that way today.”
The Hoyas looked much more like their nationally-ranked selves after the intermission. With only two minutes gone, Hudson headed in an offering from the team’s throw-in specialist, freshman midfielder Samantha Baker, to give the Hoyas a 1-0 lead.
With a little bit of luck and plenty more of the hustle that Nolan has come to expect from his forward, Hudson made her mark on two more goals before the final whistle. In the 56th minute, Hudson’s cross from the endline deflected off of a Syracuse defender for an own goal.
The Hoyas got their final tally 20 minutes later, and once again it was Hudson. Syracuse junior goalkeeper Eliza Bennett-Hattan came out of the box to grab a long kick, but Hudson met her at the ball, tipped it past her, and scored an easy goal. It was Hudson’s tenth goal this season, tying Georgetown’s single-season record.
Syracuse managed a lone consolation goal in the last five minutes of the game when freshman midfielder Amanda Morris beat Georgetown sophomore goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin for her second goal of the season.
Tuesday was the Hoyas’ third game in five days, and the team will not be getting any breaks in the upcoming week.
“It will be better for us because we are going to be on the road,” Hudson said. “We won’t have as many distractions [as we have] here, and all we have to focus on is soccer.”
The team heads to Morgantown, WV to take on the Mountaineers Friday and then to Pittsburgh to battle the Panthers on Sunday. The Hoyas return home next Tuesday for a rescheduled game against St. John’s.
