Georgetown Notches Win, Tie in Road Pair

Although the No. 11 Georgetown women’s soccer team (12-1-2, 6-0-1 Big East) was subdued on offense, the Hoyas claimed a victory and a tie against their pair of weekend Big East opponents.

In its first game of the weekend, Georgetown traveled to Cincinnati (4-10-1, 1-7-0 Big East). The Blue and Gray found it difficult to contend early with the Bearcats, who held an 8-6 shot advantage in the scoreless first half.

The Hoyas finally broke the deadlock in the 81st minute when a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Daphne Corboz found the head of junior defender Mary Kroening, who deflected the ball into the right side of the net.

“Mary came up with a big play for us, scoring her second goal in consecutive games, and we just about deserved the win,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said in a statement.

Although Georgetown outshot Cincinnati, 16-13, in the end, the victory was hardly decisive. With the Bearcats' having several quality shots on goal, the Hoyas had to rely on saves by redshirt freshman goalkeeper Emma Newins.

“Credit to Cincinnati for setting up to stop us playing,” Nolan said. “They really closed down spaces well and worked hard to find counterattacks.”

While the Hoyas left the Queen City with a win, their jaunt down the Ohio River on Sunday was not as successful.

Facing Louisville (8-3-3, 2-2-3 Big East), Georgetown got off to a better start. Corboz dribbled through two defenders at the top of the box and then rifled a shot to the top right corner past the helpless Cardinals goalkeeper to give the Blue and Gray a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.

“Early on, we had the run of play, and Daphne scored on a terrific goal,” Nolan said in a statement.

But the Hoyas’ defense finally faltered, leading to a goal by the Cardinals in the 62nd minute when Louisville junior forward Charlyn Corral beat Newins to the near post.

Louisville’s goal broke Georgetown’s streak of 601 minutes without conceding a goal — which included all six prior Big East games this season. But stellar defense from the Blue and Gray ensured that the game would end in a draw.

“Louisville started to make some runs and got behind us a little bit and had some good chances, but our back four and Emma made some plays to stop its chances. In the end, I think a tie was a fair result.”

For her efforts this past weekend, saving a total of nine shots, Newins was named Big East rookie of the week Monday. In 15 games, the Hoyas’ starting keeper leads the conference in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts.

Georgetown will face two conference opponents at North Kehoe Field this weekend, playing host to No. 24 Notre Dame (10-3-2, 6-0-1 Big East) Friday before taking on DePaul (8-7-1, 3-4-0 Big East) Sunday.