Sometimes a loss can also be a moral victory.
After the team’s best start in program history, women’s soccer suffered its first loss of the season in sudden death overtime, falling 1-0 to Georgetown (4-2-2) on the road Sunday.
Though the game ended in heartbreak for the Colonials after keeping up with the Hoyas through regulation, a notch in the loss column for GW (5-1) was not its first against Georgetown.
The Colonials have dropped eight straight matches against the Hoyas. Sunday’s game, however, was the first time GW had pushed the game to overtime.
“You always want to get the result, but I thought the performance that we put out was really good and is really setting the tone for what we can do heading into the conference,” said head coach Sarah Barnes.
After 95 hard-fought minutes of play, redshirt freshman goalie Miranda Horn came out of the goal for a long ball passed forward by Georgetown junior Marina Paul. But as Horn got caught up in the scrum, Georgetown forward Audra Ayotte flicked a pass behind Horn to Crystal Thomas, who tapped in the game winner.
Immediately after watching the ball roll past the goal line, Horn fell to the ground and pounded her fist on the grass.
The Hoyas, who were ranked No. 13 in the NCAA’s preseason poll this year, brought the majority of the pressure in the game, outshooting GW 21-9, but the GW defense used speed and footwork to collapse and push Georgetown out of the middle of the field.
The Colonials were able to clear balls before the Hoyas could find a good shot selection, but still felt the pressure consistently as many cleared balls resulted in Georgetown corner kicks. By the end of the game, the Hoyas totaled nine corners to the Colonials’ one.
“The team played great, defended very, very well and were also dangerous, so I’m really proud of the team,” Barnes said. “The truth is when you get into overtime, it usually ends up being an error – you’re tired, everybody’s fatigued and it just takes one little error and the truth is they capitalized and we did not.”
Still, the GW defense pushed Georgetown into bad spots. Only six of the Hoyas’ shots were on target. The sheer barrage of Georgetown offense tested Horn, who had six saves in the game, though several of the shots came directly to her.
Junior midfielder Brooke Bean and senior defender Alex Brothers anchored the GW defense in the center as they defended the persistent Georgetown onslaught.
“I think we did a really good job. We stayed compact, and they had chances, but I was really proud of the way our team defended not only in the back,” Bean said.
Barnes credited both players with always finding the right spot to clean up Georgetown’s advances and for stopping “some very dynamic players from Georgetown.” Barnes said footwork in particular helped them steal balls away, especially when holding the Hoyas to just five shots in the second frame.
In flashes, the Colonials did more than survive. Sophomore Lina Proska lasered a line drive on target with about 38 minutes remaining in the game, forcing third-year Georgetown goalie Emma Newins to make a diving save in the corner.
“I felt like it was a winnable game. I felt like we had opportunities to put it away,” Barnes said.
Junior Kyla Ridley had one of the Colonials’ best chances from six yards out late in the first half. Sophomore MacKenzie Cowley, who led the team with three shots, seemed to live by the Georgetown net with around 30 minutes of play remaining in a stretch of heavy GW pressure, threatening the Hoyas’ 22-home-game undefeated streak.
Cowley, who is the team’s leading scorer with four goals through six games, was fed the ball by her teammates and seemed a threat to score, beating Georgetown defenders with her speed.
“[Cowley has] been scoring, so the over-the-top balls were working and their backline wasn’t as fast as her so that was working,” Ridley said.
Still, though they often channeled the ball through Cowley, playing time was spread across the team as it has been for much of the season. Eighteen Colonials logged minutes on the pitch, a number Barnes said was not out of the ordinary but that she was comfortable with, even against the toughest opponent the team has faced so far.
“We have a lot of kids who can help and make a difference in the game,” Barnes said.
GW will head to Philadelphia, Pa. to play Drexel on Friday at 6 p.m.
