WOMEN'S SOCCER | Hoyas Open Big East With Victories

Georgetown women’s soccer Head Coach Dave Nolan was not sure how his team would respond to a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Stanford earlier this month. This past weekend gave him his answer.

The Hoyas (8-1-1, 2-0 Big East) returned to their winning ways as Big East play got underway, demolishing Seton Hall (6-4, 1-1 Big East) at home Friday before scoring a huge road win over No. 16 Rutgers (7-3, 0-2 Big East) on Sunday.

Georgetown put on a clinic at North Kehoe Field Friday afternoon, slicing and dicing the clearly overmatched visitors with eight goals on 20 shots. The Pirates managed only one late shot on goal and struggled to keep possession for more than a few seconds at a time.

Sophomore midfielder Daphne Corboz notched three goals and an assist — the first hat trick of her college career — and, in the process, vaulted herself into a tie with Canadian national team member and junior Rutgers striker Jonelle Filigno for second place in the race for the Big East scoring title.

“We wanted to bounce back from the loss last week,” Corboz said Friday. “We moved the ball really well, which stretched them, and we found seams between the defenders.”

While Corboz was unquestionably the star of her team’s shutout victory, the Blue and Gray got strong contributions from several other sources: Junior forward Colleen Dinn and sophomore forward Ashley Shaffer added two goals apiece, junior forward Kaitlin Brenn had two assists and sophomore forward Audra Ayotte knocked in the final goal to cap a dominant performance.

“We’ve got very good attacking players — Daphne here is not too bad — and ultimately, a lot of our stuff goes through her and Kaitlin Brenn,” Nolan said. “I thought Kaitlin played fantastic today.”

Nolan quipped afterward that the win “certainly wouldn’t hurt their confidence” heading into a road showdown with Rutgers, one of the toughest foes they will face this season. That appeared to ring true, as the Hoyas posted a 1-0 victory that kept the Scarlet Knights winless in conference play after a blistering 7-1 start.

“It was probably our most dominant performance of the season, including Friday’s game,” Nolan said in a statement. “Our back line was tremendous, the middle three were fantastic and Kaitlin and Daphne were both active up front. ... We just dominated from start to finish.”

After taking a back seat to the lights-out offense in Friday’s victory, Georgetown’s defense had a chance to shine Sunday. Junior defender Alexa St. Martin managed to shut down Filigno, and the defense allowed only three shots on the day.

Despite a 7-0 shot advantage in the first half, Georgetown failed to find the back of the net and entered the second frame tied with the hosts.

Partway through the half, senior midfielder Christina O’Tousa finally broke the deadlock with a volley off an assist from freshman forward Sarah Adams. The goal, O’Tousa’s first in her four-year career, ended up being the difference in a defensive battle.

“This was a huge three points and makes it seem like six being a division win,” Nolan said.

In their next outing, the Blue and Gray will play host to Connecticut (5-3-1, 1-1 Big East) at 3 p.m. Friday.