After winning every game this season, the Georgetown women’s soccer team took to the West Coast for a tougher test against soccer juggernauts No. 2 Stanford and No. 10 Santa Clara. But the No. 19 Hoyas (7-2), came up empty handed on the road trip.
Ingrid Wells looks to lead the Hoyas into Big East play after a tough road trip. (Photo by Jackson Perry)
“We knew going into the games this weekend that they were going to be challenging,” head coach Dave Nolan said. “We were playing against two of the more storied programs in the women’s game.”
Friday night’s game against Santa Clara was a close battle, but an own goal by Georgetown ultimately led to Santa Clara’s victory. The hard-fought loss was the first defeat for the Hoyas this season, though according to Nolan, the game should have ended in a draw.
“We had a couple of penalty calls that I would have hoped we’d get one or two of,” Nolan said. “But the referee wasn’t brave enough to make the call.”
Georgetown barely had time to catch its breath with a game against the second-best team in the nation two days later. Unfortunately for the Hoyas, the Cardinals didn’t give them a chance to breathe as they jumped out to an early lead. Senior forward Christen Press scored on a cross from the top of the box only 2:31 into the game. Stanford controlled the rest of the game, outshooting the Hoyas 22-4.
“At the end of the day, Stanford was better, and there certainly still is a gap between us and them,” Nolan said.
While ranked in the top 20, the young squad still has a long way to go. But the higher level of competition they saw on their winless road trip is key to their long term improvement.
“Next year, we have Stanford coming to play us here,” Nolan said. “It will be interesting to see if we’ve closed the gap.”
The team’s out-of-conference schedule is now over and they are now preparing for the Big East season, which opens Friday against a tough Rutgers team. The Hoyas hope that their early-season competition has readied them for the Big East.
“We’re exactly where we had wanted to be,” Nolan said. “Now we just have to go take care of business in our last ten conference games.”
