WASHINGTON – The top-seeded Georgetown women's soccer team (15-0-3, 8-0-1 BIG EAST) will take on the fourth-seeded Xavier Musketeers on Thursday in the BIG EAST Championship Semifinal. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. at Shaw Field and will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) with John Fanta and Monika Moore calling the play-by-play and Marisa Pilla on the sideline. The Hoyas are currently ranked No. 4 in the country by the United Soccer Coaches' poll.
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Over the weekend, the Hoyas clinched four of the major BIG EAST awards and six players made the All-BIG EAST Team. Senior
Caitlin Farrell (Wallingford, Conn. / Choate Rosemary Hall) was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year, junior
Meaghan Nally (Herndon, Va. / South Lakes) was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and senior
Arielle Schechtman (Del Mar, Calif. / La Jolla Country Day / UCLA) was named the BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year for the second year in a row. Head coach
Dave Nolan and his coaching staff were named the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year. Junior
Paula Germino-Watnick (Chevy Chase, Md. / Bethesda-Chevy Chase) joined Farrell, Nally and Schechtman on the first team and graduate student
Kyra Carusa (San Diego, Calif. / Del Norte / Stanford) and sophomore
Grace Nguyen (Lilburn, Ga. / Parkview) were named to the second team.
On Monday, Schechtman was named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week after recording her 12th shutout of the season against Xavier last week as the Hoyas closed out the regular season. Georgetown tied with the Musketeers 0-0 in double overtime. In her 110 minutes in the net, she tallied three saves.
Farrell leads the unbeaten Hoyas with 32 points from 15 goals and two assists. She ranks fourth in the NCAA in game-winning goals (6), sixth in SOG per game (.83) and total goals (15) and sits ninth in goals per game (.83). Carusa is second on the team in points with 21 off of seven goals and seven assists. Schechtman leads the nation in save percentage (.940) and shutouts (12) this season and ranks second in GAA (.239). As a team, GU sits second in the nation in GAA (.318) and save percentage (.923), third in winning percentage (.917) and fifth in shutout percentage (.667).
Georgetown sits atop the rankings in the BIG EAST in multiple categories, including points (107), goals (38), goals per game (2.11), assists (31), assists per game (1.72), goals allowed (6), GAA (.32), shutouts (12) and corners (133). Farrell leads in shots (83), shots per game (4.61), points (32), points per game (1.78), goals (15), goals per game (.83) and game-winning goals (6). Carusa is tied for first in the league in assists (7) and leads in assists per game (.39). Additionally, Schechtman ranks first in the BIG EAST in GAA (.240), save percentage (.940) and shutouts (12).
After playing fifth-seeded DePaul to a 1-1 draw through double-overtime on Sunday in the BIG EAST Quarterfinal, Xavier (10-7-3, 4-3-2 BIG EAST) went 4-for-4 on penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals for the first time in program history. BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year Samantha Dewey gave XU the lead in the 63rd minute before the Blue Demons tied it up shortly after, forcing the two teams into a scoreless double overtime. The Musketeers had a 4-2 advantage in PKs on DePaul to advance to the next round of the tournament.
Dewey leads the team with 24 points off of nine goals and six assists. Goalkeeper Toni Bizzarro has allowed 16 goals in 18 games and registers a .830 GAA, 79 saves and a .832 save percentage. She has recorded eight clean sheets this season.
Thursday's game will be the sixth meeting all-time between the two schools and the second this year. The Hoyas lead the all-time series 5-0-1 and have allowed only one goal from the Musketeers, which occurred in the first meeting ever between the two teams in 2013. The most recent game occurred in the last regular game of the season, which resulted in a scoreless draw.
The winner of Thursday's game will advance to the BIG EAST Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. and will be shown on FS1.
