“Every team but one loses their last game,” Georgetown women’s soccer coach Dave Nolan said.
The Hoyas walk away from a historic season knowing there is more to come. (Photo by Jackson Perry)
Unfortunately, this year, the Hoyas couldn’t be that one team. Last Friday the Georgetown women’s soccer team’s dream season came to an end when the squad fell to No. 12 Ohio State 2-0 in Columbus, Ohio.
But while the loss brought an end to their hopes of a national championship, it still took them to the quarterfinals. Being a game away from the Final Four meant a lot to the Hoyas, who had never won a postseason game in program history before this year.
Nolan said the team was not taking their victory lightly; every year, they strive just to make the Big East tournament, without focusing at all on the NCAA tournament. But this year, the seven-year coach gave the team a record performance of 15-7-2, blowing their previous showings out of the water. Their incredible performance this season against tough teams gave them a much better chance at the title and more wiggle room towards the end of the season, Nolan said.
“Last year we had a pretty good team—we just didn’t get a bounce of the ball along the way,” Nolan said.
The team this year was more solid as a whole, and he attributed their unprecedented success to their dedication, momentum, and the way each player fit with the team.
Junior midfielder Ingrid Wells thought that the team’s success was due in large part to good chemistry, which has improved from years past. Now, she and her teammates are looking toward the next season.
“I think we’re still going to be really strong next year, and after having a taste … I know it’s something we’re going to strive to get back to,” Wells said.
Wells is part of a strong junior class that will again make up the core of the team next year, but they don’t expect the road to the championship to be easier with more experience.
“We’re going to have a big target on our back now,” Wells said.
Nolan agrees, but said the increased level of competition could be good news for the Hoyas.
“It puts you now in a different stratosphere,” Nolan said. “We can now appeal to more [good players].”
He expects to see an increase in talented recruits with the success of the team, and a successful recruiting class can take the program to the next level. Although the team isn’t that old, they could use some young help with the loss of five seniors, including starting goalkeeper Jackie DesJardin. With the team standing to lose four of their top five scorers the year after next, the team will need to plug a lot of holes for the 2011 season.
Although Nolan knows it will be hard for the Hoyas to repeat the success of this season, he thinks the Hoyas have what it takes to get back to the NCAA tournament again.
“It doesn’t mean we won’t try,” he said. “And more than anything I’m hoping that the kids now will get a taste for what we did this year and it will just help them push.”
