As the calendar pages flip past October, the Georgetown women’s soccer team (10-3-2, 4-2-1 Big East) has little time left to make a statement. And the final games of the regular season leave no room for slack. While the team had a successful weekend with wins against Cincinnati and Louisville, their four remaining games include competition against the top two teams in the Big East: West Virginia and Notre Dame.
“We’re at that place in the season now where you can’t afford really any slip-ups, and these next four Big East conference games have big importance in a couple of different areas,” head coach Dave Nolan said.
Nolan indicated that the team’s focus for the next two weeks is to lay the groundwork to extend their season as long as possible. Currently that means securing the best possible place in the Big East tournament. The team needs at least one more win to qualify for the tournament, but finishing in the top three of its division (Georgetown is currently third in the National division) will permit the team to avoid a play-in game.
The team hosts Pittsburgh this Friday afternoon, and, in a quick turnaround, West Virginia on Sunday. Both games will be played on North Kehoe Field, an advantage the Hoyas are happy to have.
“Both Pitt and West Virginia are very difficult places to play,” Nolan said. “Pitt is very challenging. When you get them on your home field it certainly takes away the advantage that they had. West Virginia is still West Virginia. The road to the Big East for us every year will, at some point, certainly go through West Virginia.”
The Hoyas hope to come out strong against Pitt on Friday, place pressure on them early, and take control of the game. Against West Virginia, a team that distributes strong pressure across the field, the Hoyas will look to use ball control to counter the Mountaineer force.
“We are a possession-oriented team,” Nolan said. “We try to keep the ball on the ground, and try and keep the ball moving, and try and get the ball to our key personnel.”
The impressive front field trio—sophomore Kelly D’Ambrisi, redshirt sophomore Ingrid Wells, and graduate student Sara Jordan—knows their opponents are putting in extra effort to stop them short and know what they have to do to beat that pressure. The Hoya coaching staff has given the forwards full freedom on the field to make the adjustments they feel necessary.
“Last week against Cincinnati and Louisville, I felt that Ingrid, Jordi and I were really connected in those games,” D’Ambrisi said. “If we can connect this week we should be able to score goals against the both of them [Pitt and West Virginia].”
On the other end of the field, the team is attempting to solidify its defense, which has not had a shutout in the past three games. The Hoyas will look to sophomore Gabby Miller and senior Michaela Buonomo, who in the past have complemented each other very well, to step up.
The Hoyas have all the talent necessary to come out on top of both of these teams. The question is whether they will be able to pull out all of their best efforts on game day.
“We need to be on,” D’Ambrisi said.
