The Georgetown women’s soccer team (5-2-2, 0-0 Big East) strolled to a comfortable victory over Duquesne University (3-3-2, 0-0 Atlantic 10) this past Sunday by a score of 2-0.
Georgetown struck first in the 12th minute with a goal from senior midfielder Daphne Corboz, tying the school record for most career points. Not only was the opening goal a career milestone for Corboz, but it was also especially noteworthy because it was the first time she had scored off an assist from freshman midfielder Rachel Corboz—her younger sister.
After scoring this early goal, the Hoyas continued the attack against the Duquesne Dukes, producing a number of scoring opportunities on offense, ultimately increasing the lead to 2-0 on a goal from senior forward Vanessa Skrumbis.
Georgetown consistently threatened Duquesne, while the Dukes themselves came tantalizingly close to scoring on multiple occasions. Most notably, junior goalkeeper Lauren Trower made an acrobatic save on a rolling shot on goal. She managed to get enough on the ball to deflect it against the post, preserving Georgetown’s clean sheet.
“Overall I was disappointed. We talked about coming out fast at them and we did,” said Head Coach Dave Nolan. “We knew that if we could get an early goal, it would encourage them to open up the game a little bit … when it actually did open up, we weren’t good enough to take advantage of the space.”
The Hoyas certainly seemed to check out of the game after their second goal. Nolan was not impressed with his team due to several minor mistakes made as the game wore on.
“I think the game was too easy. At 2-0 going in to the second half, I told the kids that if we could get a third goal, we could go on to score six or seven.” Nolan added, “Not enough of our players brought energy in the second half,” said Nolan.
In regards to the Hoyas’ defensive lapses, Nolan was critical of some of the mistakes midfielders made, saying, “That’s just sloppiness. It wasn’t that defenders made mistakes, the mistakes were made farther up the field because people were being too casual… Once we started to make mistakes, they started to manifest.”
This victory comes after a few weeks of tepid results for the Hoyas, who will be looking for an unequivocal return to form.
Over the last few weeks, the Hoyas suffered a number of discouraging matches, starting with a demoralizing 6-1 loss at Virginia Tech. Following this defeat, Georgetown uncharacteristically lost again, this time to Wake Forest. Although Georgetown managed to come away from West Virginia with a contentious draw, and managed to defeat George Washington 1-0 on September 14, the Hoyas have undoubtedly failed to live up to their own standards.
Notwithstanding, Nolan is not concerned, emphasizing that improvement is a daily process. “The lessons for improvement are the same everyday in practice. They are about people making smart decisions.”
The Hoyas will travel to Chicago to face DePaul on Thursday at 5:00 p.m., followed by a matchup at Xavier on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. to mark the beginning of Big East play. Georgetown will hold their first home match of Big East play with games against Butler and Providence on Oct. 2 and 5, respectively.
