WASHINGTON – The top-seeded Georgetown women's soccer team defeated the fourth-seeded Xavier Musketeers 3-1 on Thursday afternoon at Shaw Field in the BIG EAST Semifinal. The Hoyas, who are ranked No. 4 nationally, now stand at 16-0-3 overall and 8-0-1 in the BIG EAST and will advance to the BIG EAST Championship game on Sunday. With the loss, Xavier finish the season at 10-8-3 overall and 4-3-2 in the conference.

"I felt the girls did a good job rebounding from a disappointing performance the first time around against Xavier," said head coach Dave Nolan. "While we made a few adjustments, I just think we were sharper to press today, quicker when we had the ball and our front four were extremely difficult to stay with today. We were disappointed to give up a late goal, but it's a valuable lesson for us that we have to concentrate for a full 90 minutes, but I thought for the first 80 minutes we played as well as we have all year. Now it's onto Sunday for a tough match up versus either Providence or Butler, both who will be excited to get another crack at us."
 
The Musketeers looked for several chances to score within the first few minutes of play, but a pressuring Hoya defense denied each opportunity. Eventually, the Blue & Gray offense took over the possession and controlled the rest of the half.
 
In the 15th minute, Georgetown had three great opportunities to score within a matter of 30 seconds, with the closest opportunity coming from junior Carson Nizialek (Chantilly, Va. / Freedom), whose shot hit the crossbar. Junior Paula Germino-Watnick (Chevy Chase, Md. / Bethesda-Chevy Chase) and graduate student Kyra Carusa (San Diego, Calif. / Del Norte / Stanford) also came close to finding the back of the net but just missed.
 
With eight minutes left in the first half, freshman Boo Jackson (Marlton, N.J. / Cherokee) fired a shot in the six-yard box, but XU goalkeeper Toni Bizzarro dove to save the ball from crossing the line. Shortly after, sophomore Jenna Menta (Lincolndale, N.Y. / Somers) took a shot from the right side of the box, which deflected off of Bizzarro's hands and sat on the line, just missing the back of the net.
 
Finally, with less than three minutes to play in the half, a handball called on Xavier led to a penalty kick taken by Nizialek. The junior found the back of the net off of the PK, giving the Hoyas a 1-0 lead as they entered the second half. The goal marked Nizialek's third goal of the season.
 
Georgetown controlled much of the second half as well, as senior Amanda Carolan (Bayville, N.J. / Central Regional) took multiple shots that deflected off of Bizzarro and trailing back to the forward. In the 52nd minute, freshman Jenna Royson (Toms River, N.J. / Toms River North) found Carolan on the right side, who then crossed it over to senior Caitlin Farrell (Wallingford, Conn. / Choate Rosemary Hall) as she headed the ball in the back of the next to give GU a 2-0 advantage. The goal tallied Farrell's 16th of the season.
 
Less than one minute later, Farrell and Carolan connected again after Germino-Watnick found Farrell from midfield who then found Carolan on the left side of the box, replicating a similar play from the goal that occurred just a few seconds earlier. Carolan gave the Hoyas a 3-0 lead and recorded her third goal this year.
 
The Musketeers tried to get on the board in the 68th minute, but a great save from senior goalkeeper Arielle Schechtman (Del Mar, Calif. / La Jolla Country Day / UCLA) stopped them from doing so. In the 84th minute, Xavier succeeded and scored off of a free kick as Schechtman blocked the first shot, which deflected back to XU's Rachel Butler who scored the late goal for Xavier.
 
The Blue & Gray had a 22-4 shot advantage on the Musketeers and took six corners to their two. Bizzarro registered eight saves in goal while Schechtman tallied two.
 
Top-seeded Georgetown will advance to the BIG EAST Championship on Sunday for the third-straight year. The Hoyas will host the winner of second-seeded Butler and sixth-seeded Providence at Shaw Field with a 1 p.m. kickoff slate. The game will be broadcast live on FS1 and live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.