WASHINGTON – The top-seeded Georgetown women's soccer team scored three goals in the second half to advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Shaw Field. The Hoyas defeated Central Connecticut State 3-1 and will host Washington State on Friday at Shaw Field. With the win, GU remains unbeaten at 18-0-3, while the Blue Devils finish the season at 16-2-2.
"This was always going to be a difficult game, playing against a confident team that was very well coached," said Georgetown Head Coach
Dave Nolan. "The strong wind made conditions difficult for both teams and going against it in the first half was a real challenge for us. CCSU managed a spell of pressure mostly through set pieces that unfortunately led to us giving up one. However, we have been in this position before this year and coming out for the second half with the wind now in our favor, we felt once we got the first one, we would go on and win the game. We kept doing our thing and got our rewards with a great goal by Paula. That gave us a great lift and deflated them and we stepped up the pressure and got our rewards. Great to have
Amanda Carolan score our second and then Kyra finished it off with a rebound off of her own PK. Now it's onto Friday with a very tough Pac-12 opponent in Washington State."
A trio of Hoyas recorded goals in the victory. Junior
Paula Germino-Watnick (Chevy Chase, Md. / Bethesda-Chevy Chase) scored the equalizer in the 70th minute, followed by a goal from senior
Amanda Carolan (Bayville, N.J. / Central Regional) in the 78th minute. Graduate student
Kyra Carusa (San Diego, Calif. / Del Norte / Stanford) scored the final goal of the game in the 81st minute to finish it off for the Blue & Gray 3-1.
The first half was controlled mostly by the Blue Devils on the offensive end, as they set up many opportunities to take the lead and did in the 20th minute as Danielle Pearse buried a goal past senior goalkeeper
Arielle Schechtman (Del Mar, Calif. / La Jolla Country Day / UCLA). However, the Hoyas sought for the equalizer and had two good opportunities in the final four minutes of the half to try and even the score. Carolan was pressured by a sea of CCSU defenders in the box as her shot went too high and in the 42nd minute, junior
Meaghan Nally (Herndon, Va. / South Lakes) managed a steal on the defensive end and drove the ball to the net but could not finish it as the Hoyas trailed 1-0 at the half.
Georgetown came out in the second half with much more rhythm and set up many more opportunities to try and score. Germino-Watnick fired a shot in the 49th minute but it ended up wide and Carusa followed up after with another shot inside the box but CCSU goalkeeper Ashley Cavanaugh managed to save it. Central Connecticut attempted to take a 2-0 lead in the 65th minute but a speedy
Jenna Royson (Toms River, N.J. / Toms River North) hustled to clear the ball off the field.
The Blue & Gray answered in the 70th minute when Carusa connected with Germino-Watnick, who was in the center of the six-yard box, and buried the ball past Cavanaugh to put GU in the scoring column 1-1. The goal boosted Georgetown's confidence to take more chances on the offensive end. Less than 10 minutes later, senior
Caitlin Farrell (Wallingford, Conn. / Choate Rosemary Hall) took a shot that deflected off of Cavanaugh and Carolan fired a shot off the rebound to put GU up 2-1.
In the 81st minute, Carusa took a penalty kick that hit the left post and the forward followed her shot and found the back of the net off of the rebound to give Georgetown the 3-1 advantage and advance to the next round of the tournament.
The Hoyas outshot the Blue Devils 15-4, as the GU defense allowed just a single shot from CCSU in the second half, and took 14 corner kicks to their four. Cavanaugh recorded five saves, while Schechtman did not have any.
Georgetown will host Washington State on Friday at Shaw Field. Kickoff time is yet to be determined. Tickets will be available to purchase at WeAreGeorgetown.com.