Box Score WASHINGTON – The No. 10/11 Hoyas fell to Princeton 3-2 in Princeton, New Jersey on Thursday evening. With the setback, the Hoyas move to 4-1-3 on the season while Princeton improves to 4-1-1.
Head Coach Dave Nolan
"Tonight, was a disappointing end to the game. I don't feel like I can argue too much about the result. In the first half Princeton was very good and they come out hot and heavy like we knew they would. There was a good crowd here, home game for them under the lights and they put us under tremendous pressure, and we never really solved it. It is ironic that we haven't really given up many goals this season and the first two goals in this game were own goals. I felt through the run of play, Princeton probably deserved to go up 2-0 into the half. Second half was a much different story, and we changed our system similar to the way we did against James Madison, and we tried to just get a little bit more pressure on them and make them deal with pressure and they didn't. We got back into it with two very good goals, one from
Kaya Hanson, who had a very good game scored a great for us putting it away in the bottom corner.
Natalie Means then scored a world class goal to make it 2-2 and at that point I felt we had the upper hand and if any team was going to go on to win it was going to be us. You have to give Princeton credit; they have great players and took advantage of a numbers up situation down the line, and they put a dangerous cross into the box and give them credit for stepping in and finishing it. Even then I felt we had some moments in the last 15 minutes where we could have found a third goal, but it just wasn't meant to be. Obviously, we are disappointed with the result and outcome, but we are pleased with the second half effort from the girls. When you play teams of at this level of this caliber much like we did Stanford on Sunday, you need to play two halves with the same intensity. Sadly for us, we learned the hard way that one half is not enough."
About the Match
- Seventeen minutes into the match, Princeton was putting heavy pressure on the Hoyas and was able to strike first on an own goal by the Hoya defense.
- In the 24th minute, Princeton once again found the back of the net off an own goal by Georgetown.
- GU trailed 2-0 heading into halftime.
- In the 49th minute, freshman Kaya Hanson scored on a brilliant unassisted effort beating the goalie far post from the top of the box. Hanson's goal cut the Hoya deficit to one with 40 minutes left in the half.
- Three minutes later in the 53rd minute, Eliza Turner got the ball in the midfield and found Tatum Lenain on the left side. Lenain played a brilliant through ball down the left flank towards the edge of the box where Natalie Means ran onto it. Means drove baseline and beat her defender before curling a beautiful shot to the back post for her second goal of the season.
- In the 76th minute, Princeton scored on a back post header from Pietra Tordin.
- GU was unable to find a third goal and dropped the contest 3-2.
Of Note
- Hanson scored her first collegiate goal in the 49th minute.
- Means scored the equalizer in the 53rd minute, it was her second goal of the season.
- Lenain recorded her third assist on the season.
- Turner tallied her first assist of the season.
- Cara Martin made two saves.
What Lies Ahead
The Hoyas will be back in action on Thursday, September 21 kicking off BIG EAST action against St. John's. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. in Queens, New York. A link to live stats and a live stream will be available on GUHoyas.com.
