The sun beat down as the No. 12 Georgetown women’s soccer team (9-2-2, 3-0-1 Big East) drew with the Creighton Bluejays (2-9-2, 0-3-1 Big East) 1-1 after overtime on Thursday. Sophomore midfielder Paula Germino-Watnick scored for the Hoyas, while sophomore forward Hannah Miller recorded Creighton’s only goal.
Georgetown came into the game tied with Xavier (7-4-3, 3-0-1 Big East) for first place in the Big East standings. With Xavier dropping points against Butler (9-1-3, 2-0-2 Big East) later in the evening, the Hoyas missed an opportunity to take sole possession of the lead in conference play. At the other end of the table, Creighton gained its first point against Big East opposition.
The Hoyas started the game strong. They dominated possession and frequently tested Creighton sophomore goalkeeper McKenzie Meola. Georgetown’s defense continued to stifle its opposition, only allowing one shot on goal in the first half. Each time the Bluejays attacked, junior defender Jenna Staudt and senior defender Elizabeth Wenger cleared the ball away. Freshman defender Kelly Ann Livingstone was also a big help, bringing the ball up the field and creating plays on the offensive end.
Miller lines up for her free kick. – Photo: Jake Gilstrap/The Georgetown Voice
Despite the energy from the defense in the first half, Georgetown found itself down 1-0 to Miller’s free kick in the 43rd minute. Miller drilled the ball past the wall and into the side netting from a yard outside of the box, leaving Georgetown senior goalkeeper Arielle Schechtman no chance to prevent the goal.
Despite their dominance, the Hoyas were behind at the break, conceding to Creighton’s only shot on goal of the game.
“I felt we wasted the first half in that we didn’t really get urgent enough,” said Head Coach Dave Nolan. “We just kept thinking, ‘Ah, we’ll get one.’”
In the second half, the Hoyas came out with a little more fire, shooting the ball an astounding 21 times. Meola continued to make saves keeping Georgetown scoreless for 80 minutes. Germino-Watnick finally made the breakthrough for the Blue and Gray, pounding the ball into the back of the net from 20 yards out in the 81st minute.
“In the first half, we didn’t really take a lot of shots. At halftime our coach said we needed to take more shots,” said Germino-Watnick. “So that was the goal in the second half: to try and get more shots off.”
Germino-Watnick’s late goal forced the match into overtime, where both teams gave it their all. Georgetown controlled the two overtime periods, maintaining possession and firing off more shots from both outside and inside the box. Despite some great balls played into the 18-yard box, the Hoyas failed to score in either period and settled for a tie.
“The result is obviously the most important thing. It was disappointing that we didn’t get the three points that we wanted,” said Nolan. “You gotta give all the credit in the world to Creighton.”
Georgetown will travel to Pennsylvania on Sunday to take on Villanova (6-7, 2-2 Big East) at 1:00 p.m.
