10/5/2002
Box Score
Piscataway, N.J. - Vying for a berth in the BIG EAST Tournament, Georgetown women?s soccer (8-5, 3-2) traveled to Rutgers University to take on the Scarlet Knights (7-3-2, 3-2-1) losing 4-2 under the lights of Yurcak Field Saturday night.
Rutgers entered its final league match placed fifth in the standings in the BIG EAST Mid-Atlantic Division needing a win over third place Georgetown to have any chance of making the BIG EAST Tournament. The Georgetown loss muddies the waters of the tournament picture and marks the second loss in a row after a seven game win streak.
Georgetown struck early against an uncharitable Rutgers defense that had allowed just three goals in the last eight matches. Midfielder Courtney Shaub (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) worked the ball into the home end, sliding it outside the box to Karin Ostrander (Atherton, Calif./Menlo Atherton) who stepped forward and tucked it inside the post at 6:07. Down 1-0, the Scarlet Knights subbed in the team?s leading scorer Karli Lloyd who promptly potted her seventh goal of the season to even the affair at one. Momentum swung back and forth when Nicole DePalma (Thiells, N.Y./North Rockland) dented the left post with a shot and Rutgers counterattacked deep into Hoya territory, but neither team could finish. The Scarlet Knights found the first chink in the armor after a long pass sent Rutgers? Meghan Cameron in alone on goalkeeper Alexis George (Woodbury, N.J./Haddonfield). George challenged and the shot barely buzzed over her outstretched arm, putting the home squad up 2-1. The drama continued on both ends as the teams once again traded scoring chances as Shara McNeil (Avon, Conn./Avon) scampered in and around the Rutgers end while George worked hard to keep a load of heavy shots out of her cage.
The end-to-end style of play continued in the second as George came up with three huge stops in the first two minutes of action before a foul in the box brought Rutgers its first penalty kick of the year. Lloyd stepped in and knocked the ball past George to widen the margin to 3-1. Time and again George was called on to come up with incredible plays, making several one-on-one saves against streaking Rutgers forwards. On a breakaway partway through the second half, George finally lost the battle, giving up her fourth of the game as Rutgers pulled ahead 4-1. In the final 25 minutes the Hoyas shifted into an aggressive offensive alignment that earned them a penalty kick that was punched high by the keeper and forced the Rutgers defense to make its second team save of the game. In the 82nd minute Georgetown scored its second goal, a header from Casey McCann (Mendham, N.J./Mendham) off a Jessie Beers-Altman (State College Pa./State College) cross, but the mark was not enough to save the game.
The Hoyas play their final Mid-Atlantic BIG EAST game on Wednesday October 9th when they play on the road against West Virginia.
