Georgetown women’s soccer tops No. 12 Rutgers 2-1 in OT
WASHINGTON (Via Georgetown University) – As Georgetown University’s women’s soccer game at No. 12 Rutgers on Friday night went to overtime, Hoyas Head Coach Dave Nolan said he felt it was going to come down to either one mistake or a great goal.
And less than a minute into overtime, Nolan was right, as Georgetown junior midfielder Rachel Corboz (Green Brook, N.J./Pingry) delivered a strike from 22 yards out, lifting the Hoyas to a 2-1 win over the 12th-ranked Scarlet Knights at Yurcak Field. It was the third-straight win for the Hoyas, who improve to 4-1-0 overall. Rutgers falls to 3-1-1.
“It could have gone either way,” Nolan said after the game. “It was either going to be a bad mistake or a great goal and Rachel scored a great goal. She just scored a great goal to win it.”
The Hoyas had several chances in the final 10 minutes of regulation, but wasted little time in securing the win in overtime. Senior forward Grace Damaska (Milton, Ga./Blessed Trinity) played the ball from the near side to Corboz at the top of the box. She had space, took one touch and blasted a shot that beat RU goalkeeper Alana Jimenez to the left post, giving the Hoyas the thrilling win at 90:35.
Rutgers had taken the early lead, with Madison Tiernan scoring on a shot from 25 yards out at 3:51.
GU withstood an early rush from the Scarlet Knights and were about to tie the game in the 15th minute. Damaska was taken down in the box and the Hoyas were awarded a penalty kick. Corboz stepped to the line and tied the game at the 14:59 mark.
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The teams went into the half knotted at one and the second half was back and forth, as Rutgers had several chances in the opening 15 minutes and the Hoyas countered in the latter stages. Sophomore goalkeeper Arielle Schechtman (Del Mar, Calif./De La Salle/UCLA) made a pair of saves on shots from Rutgers to preserve the tie and the Hoyas defended well on seven corner kicks in the second half.
GU had chances as well, with a shot from Corboz saved by Jimenez in the 72nd minute, as well as shots from Corey Delaney (Chatham, N.J./Pingry/Dartmouth) in the 83rd minute and junior Taylor Pak (Wellington, Fla./American Heritage) in the 84th minute.
“They had us under the crush and they came out pretty fired up for the game,” Nolan said. “We got back into it on the penalty kick and I thought we were the better team in the first half. It was the same story in the second half as they came out strong again and we played well in the later stages.”
“Arielle came up really big, we had some heroic defending and she made some really terrific saves. We played really well. I’m really proud of their effort and the ability to come back after being down a goal.”
Georgetown will play an exhibition match against the U-20 team from Papua New Guinea on Sunday, Sept. 4 at Shaw Field. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. A live stream of the game will be available on the Georgetown Athletics website, www.GUHoyas.com.
