Hoya goalie Rachel Skonecki recorded a four-save shutout as the women’s field hockey team (5-9, 0-3 Big East) beat the Colgate Raiders (4-9, 3-1 Patriot League) 3-0 on Sunday.
Team Co-Captain Emily Weinberg opened the scoring with a goal that came just past the 24-minute mark. “It’s always good to put the first one in,” said the junior midfielder.
The Hoyas relaxed into the game after putting themselves on the board. Sophomore forward Aliyah Graves-Brown was instrumental in moving the ball around on offense. Her effort was rewarded when she scored the second goal of the game.
“Forwards, our number one job is always to get the ball in the back of the net” said Graves-Brown. “[We’ve] been trying to focus on constant movement. Especially, a big thing with us is communication between our [midfielders] and our forwards, which you know, makes us super successful, and wreaking havoc and making their defenders have terrible days.”
Weinberg capped the win off with her second goal on a counterattack 37 minutes in.
The Hoyas also did well on penalty corners, edging the Raiders 11-5 in that category. “I thought they looked good. We’ve been working really really hard on them and I think they’re starting to come together, for sure” said Weinberg.
“I’m really, really proud of them for coming back after I think a really hard fought battle against Villanova Friday night that didn’t necessarily end in our favor,” said Georgetown Head Coach Shannon Soares. “We talked about making strides forward after a match like that and building on it as opposed to taking steps back, and I think they did that today. We asked them to commit 70 minutes of simple Georgetown field hockey and I think today they did a good job of that.”
Georgetown also outshot Colgate 15-7. “We really tested their goalkeeper,” said Soares. “In the past, we haven’t done a good job of really taking shots as soon as we penetrate our opponent’s circle and today, we made that goalkeeper have to make some saves. She made some pretty darn good ones but also, that increased our opportunities to put the ball in the goal and I was proud of them for doing that today.”
The Hoyas’ next game comes against Temple (11-5, 2-1 Big East) this Friday on Multi-Sport Field at 1 p.m. It will be the toughest challenge since the Hoyas played at Connecticut on Oct. 4 when they lost 6-0.
“We’re so excited about that challenge on Friday. Temple is a top-10 team in the country. This’ll be the first time that we’ll get to host them here on the Multi-Sport Field… Hopefully we can continue to make steps forward and build off of today’s success too,” Soares said.
Soares had a few simple words of advice for her team after the game.
“When you commit to playing a full game of Georgetown field hockey, which is a simple possession-based style of hockey, you’ll reap what you sow.”
With Sunday’s win, the Hoyas move to 5-9 on the season, remaining in last place in the Big East behind Villanova. Friday’s game against Temple will be their last Big East matchup, a category in which they are currently 0-3. The Hoyas’ remaining two games will be at Liberty (9-7,3-0 Northern Pacific) and at home against Towson (2-12, 0-3 CAA).
Photo by GU Hoyas
