The No. 15 Georgetown women’s soccer team (1-0-2, Big East) hosts the Yale Bulldogs (1-0, Ivy League) on Sunday. After two successive draws, the most recent coming against No. 11 Duke (1-1-1, ACC), the Hoyas look to get back to winning ways, while the Bulldogs look to keep up their momentum after a 3-0 win at Howard (1-2, SWAC).
After two games at Virginia Tech to open the season, the Hoyas looked supremely comfortable at home against Duke, putting pressure on the Blue Devils back line and recording 24 shots. They couldn’t break the deadlock though, coming close twice in the second overtime period, first with graduate student forward Kyra Carusa hitting the crossbar and then senior forward Caitlin Farrell’s shot that slotted past the Duke goalkeeper only to be cleared off the line. On the other end, the Georgetown back line was able to keep the Blue Devils at bay and graduate student goalkeeper Arielle Schechtman came up with a reaction save late in the second half to keep her team in the game. Yet despite the significant pressure, the Hoyas created few clear cut chances.
“We were rushing it; we were forcing it,” head coach Dave Nolan said after the match.
Carusa echoed her coach, saying “I think a few times, myself included, I got a little anxious, I got a little excited and took a shot too early when we should let the play develop a little bit more.”
Junior forward/midfielder Paula Germino-Watnick made her season debut after sitting the two games in Blacksburg with a minor injury, an encouraging sign for the Hoyas. Yet she fell victim to the same issues as the rest of the Hoyas attack.
“I think she was so anxious to get on the field that she probably tried too hard,” Nolan said. “I think sometimes in those moments, when you’re anxious, you try to hit a home run instead of just get on base.”
On the other hand, Yale dominated Howard with a first-half blitz, outshooting the Bison 9-1. Junior midfielder Noelle Higginson, an All-Ivy League first team selection in 2017, scored twice in the final ten minutes of the first half after sophomore forward Ciara Ostrander opened the scoring in the 15th minute. The Bulldogs finished the Ivy League in third place last season and went 11-4-2, a vast improvement from a sixth place finish and losing record (6-7-3) the year before.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to take on the next game. It’s kind of short term memory loss and go on to the next game, and ‘bad news Yale’ kind of a deal and just get after them,” Carusa said. “I really think that this Sunday could be really big time for us.”
The match kicks off at 1 p.m. ET on Shaw Field. Follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter for game day updates, breaking news, and coverage of the other fall sports at Georgetown.
