The Georgetown women’s soccer team (9-5-1, 4-1-1 Big East) tied the Marquette Golden Eagles (6-6-4, 3-2-1 Big East) 2-2 after overtime Sunday afternoon to remain tied with St. John’s (12-2-1, 4-1-1 Big East) for second place in the conference. After the Hoyas built a 2-0 lead at a windy Shaw Field through 70 minutes, Marquette scored two goals in less than two minutes while playing a man down to level the score.
The Hoyas opened up strong, playing up the wings to find their two goals. The first came from sophomore defender Taylor Pak, who tapped in a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Rachel Corboz in the 43rd minute.
“With their formation, three in the back, it leaves space out wide, so it’s important to exploit that,” said senior forward Crystal Thomas. “I think we were able to do that quite a bit.”
“Our gameplan was definitely to get to the outside,” said Georgetown Head Coach Dave Nolan. “Our second goal came because we changed the point of attack and came across the field and got the ball to [Graduate Student forward Audra Ayotte], which is what we wanted to do more of. I don’t think we did it enough.”
That goal came in the 65th minute, as Corboz knocked in a deflection from seven yards out to increase the lead to 2-0, but it would not last.
“When you’re up 2 goals, that’s the most dangerous lead in soccer,” said Thomas.
The Hoyas were forced to play withous Sophomore defender Drew Topor in the second half, who took a hard-hit ball square in the face in the 21st minute and left with an eye injury.
“That was tough,” said Head Coach Dave Nolan. “That hurt us a little bit. We don’t have a natural replacement at left back. We had to put [sophomore midfielder Chloe Knott] there and she’s not left-footed. She battled really hard and she did her best, but it’s not naturally where she wants to be, or where she feels comfortable.”
However, the Hoyas did enjoy an advantage in numbers for much of the second half, as Marquette junior defender Cali Pyzdrowski tackled Thomas from behind on a breakaway to prevent a goal, and was ejected with a red card. It proved to be a turning point in the contest, but not in the way the Hoyas expected.
“When it gets to ten men, you think that should be it. If anything it probably helped them going to ten men because they knew they could be reckless,” said Nolan. “ If you’re the team with ten, you start to work twice as hard. And when you’re the team with the extra player, you have players thinking ‘I can take it easy,’ but you have four or five players with the same idea. And now all of a sudden you stop. It’s hard to get the momentum when you take your foot off the gas.”
Pyzdrowski’s red card was not the only booking of an aggressive, physical game. Marquette’s junior defender Erin Holland was cautioned in the 79th minute, as was Thomas in the 89th. Marquette Head Coach Markus Roeders received a yellow of his own in the 87th for throwing an out-of-bounds ball away from the Georgetown thrower.
“I thought Crystal [rose to the challenge physically]. They were kicking lumps out of Crystal,” said Nolan. “That’s what Marquette does. They’re a tough, gritty midwest team full of big kids who will fight you, and fight you, and fight you. They like it to become a fight.”
Thomas became well-acquainted with the ground after big hits from aggressive Marquette defenders. She was spun around and shoved about from whistle to whistle, but she stumbled forward through each hit to fuel the Hoya attack.
The two Marquette goals came one minute and 36 seconds apart, the first falling in the 71st minute, as a shot chipped passed Newins found substitute junior forward Ashley Handwork for an easy shot on an open net.
“There was a little bit of an error between me and [senior defender Neela Mohan] communicating on a ball that got played over the top, which led to the first goal,” said Newins.“I think we just got a little bit deflated. We didn’t really know how to recover from that and they were able to capitalize and get the second goal.”
Marquette junior midfielder Liz Bartles scored the second off a deflection to even the score, and Marquette continued to threaten up until the 80th minute.
“It’s hard,” said Nolan. “It’s always disappointing. You think you’ve done enough to win the game. I think we had to be able to weather the storm a little bit longer, I think the game would’ve been over. But, you’ve got to give credit to Marquette. That’s a proud team.”
Thomas provided the most dangerous opportunities through the rest of the second half and overtime. She seemingly scored in overtime in the 103rd minute, but it was called back for a Marquette goal kick.
“There’s definitely an extra push [in overtime],” said Thomas. “A little bit of extra energy.”
But the score remained tied through 110 minutes, and both sides were forced to settle for a draw.
“Ultimately you have to give Marquette credit for getting back in the game,” said Nolan. “We just gotta take it on the chin and get ready for Thursday.”
The Hoyas will close their homestand at Shaw Field with a game against the floundering Seton Hall Pirates (2-11-2, 1-5-0 Big East) on Thursday. Kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m.
