The Georgetown women’s soccer team (9-5-0, 4-1-0 Big East) defeated the Xavier Musketeers (6-7-1, 1-4-0 Big East) 3-0 at Shaw Field Wednesday afternoon, bouncing back from their 1-0 loss away at Butler to take the first game of a three-game homestand. Sophomore midfielder Rachel Corboz led the Hoyas with two goals, while senior forward Crystal Thomas contributed one of her own, as the Hoyas drew to within one game of first-place DePaul (11-2-2, 5-0-0 Big East).
“It was really important for us to bounce back. It was a must win,” said Corboz. “We just couldn’t lose this game otherwise our chances of coming first or second in the Big East were totally gone. So this win was really important.”
The Musketeers, who boasted 6 shutouts and only 1.21 goals allowed per game going into the game, forgot their defense back in Cincinnati. The Xavier defense allowed the Hoyas 10 shots in the first half, including five on goal, forcing junior goalkeeper Rachel Piccus to make four saves.
Georgetown threatened from the first whistle, with Corboz, Thomas, sophomore defender Taylor Pak, and junior forward Grace Damaska piling in the box and unloading shot after shot.
The 5’10’’ Pak and 5’11’’ Damaska found no trouble winning headers from a tiny Xavier team to spark attacks, as the Hoyas played nearly the entire first half in the Xavier third of the field. The Musketeer offense showed no signs of life, and misfired on their few opportunities, forcing only one save from Hoya Senior goalkeeper Emma Newins.
The Hoyas finally connected in the 30th minute, as Thomas kicked in a deflection in front of the net to chalk the first goal of the day.
In the second half, what little offense Xavier did have puttered out completely, and Newins worked on the crosswords without having to make a single save. The Hoyas continued to pound the goal, forcing Piccus to make eight more saves.
In the 71st minute, Corboz fought through traffic in the box to find Thomas in front of the net once again. This time, the Xavier defense finally got over in time, just in time to foul Thomas for a penalty kick, however.
Corboz, the PK taker who had converted on both her PKs this year entering the game, had a very specific plan.
“I went on one side one time and the other side the other time,” said Corboz of her strategy. “This time I ran to the ball and waited for the goalie to move. And she didn’t move so I just hit it to the right side.”
Corboz knocked it into the right side of the net to convert the PK and improve to 3-for-3 on the season.
In the 77th minute, substitute freshman forward Caitlin Farrell launched a cross from the endline to the far post to find Corboz again, who fired across the goal into the top left corner for her second goal of the day.
With her two goals against Xavier, Corboz became the top scorer on the team this season, with seven goals in 14 games. She already leads the team in assists and total points.
Corboz hadn’t been counting.
“As long as we’re winning, that’s what’s most important,” said Corboz. “It doesn’t matter who scores and gets assists. Just the wins really matter.”
But despite the shutout victory and three goals scored, Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan was not happy with his team.
“I think all we got of it was the three points,” said Nolan. “I was very disappointed with the performance. I thought we were poor today. It was probably the first time that we had no energy.”
The bottom feeding Musketeers fall to within one game of last place with the loss to the Hoyas. Although the Hoyas put up three goals, they did not dominate by any means. The Blue and Gray were helped by a pathetic Xavier offense more than anything else. Georgetown put up 18 shots on the day, but very few were clean. The Musketeers managed to deflect or disarm the most promising Hoya opportunities.
If the Hoyas hope to catch DePaul, they’ll have to get by the Marquette Golden Eagles on Sunday first.
“Our Big East season could end on Sunday,” said Nolan.
With only four conference games remaining, there is no more margin of error for Georgetown to capture one of the top two spots.
“I think coming off a bad performance today,” said Corboz, “I think it’s really important for us to put in a good performance Sunday.”
The match against Marquette will be the middle game in the final homestand of the regular season. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
