With its third straight win, the Georgetown women’s soccer team continued its revival from a brief early season swoon. After Friday’s 2-0 triumph over James Madison and Sunday’s 1-0 win against St. Francis, the Hoyas stand at an impressive 6-2 and are in prime position to begin conference play.
While they may be content with their record thus far, the team’s recent difficulty to capitalize on scoring opportunities has been problematic, as the Hoyas were unable to score until the 82nd minute in Sunday’s contest.
The team hasn’t been slow to find the net for lack of chances, having out-shot opponents by an astounding 49 to 8 over the weekend. Senior midfielders Ingrid Wells and Kelly D’Ambrisi, as well as sophomore defender Emily Menges, were among those pressing the St. Francis goal.
Head coach Dave Nolan and Wells both agree that there were many missed chances to score.
“It was unfortunate that we did not finish as many opportunities as we had against St. Francis,” Wells said, “but sometimes that happens and we have to move on.”
Unfortunately for Georgetown, “sometimes” has become a common recurrence in the first half of matches, resulting in some uneasy finishes. The Hoyas had more convincing wins at the beginning of the season, scoring early in the match. Since the loss against national title challengers Stanford, the women have only scored once in the first half.
Nolan has been quick to downplay the Hoyas’ inconsistent finishing. He’s more impressed that the women are finding these scoring opportunities in the first place.
“I feel we played well creating those chances,” he said. “It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t get much luck in connecting those chances.”
Defensively, senior goalkeeper Elizabeth Hanna has been a major boost to the squad this year, after the tough loss of last year’s goaltender Jackie DesJardin. Hanna has already made 18 saves this season, giving the Hoyas confidence in their shot-stopper.
This upcoming weekend marks a turning point in the season, as the women begin Big East play with match-ups against Seton Hall and Rutgers. Wells and the rest of the squad are gearing up for what is sure to be an exciting stretch of games.
“We need to focus on playing well as a team and making the most of every Big East game,” the senior said.
The Hoyas look to change their scoring fortunes this weekend, gearing up for Seton Hall on Friday, before a home confrontation with Rutgers on North Kehoe Field at 12:00p.m. this Sunday.
