As Big East play nears its end, Villanova women’s soccer (5-6-6, 2-2-5 Big East) has continued competition against its conference rivals. The Wildcats went 0-1-1 on the weekend, with a 3-0 loss at home to No. 23 Georgetown and a 3-3 draw at Providence, in which the ‘Cats scored all three of their goals in the last 10 minutes.
Villanova is now in seventh place out of 11 teams in the Big East. The ‘Cats are on the outside of the six-team Big East tournament bracket, but jump into the sixth seed with a win over Butler and a draw between Providence and DePaul on the league’s final matchday.
“[There’s] been a lot of progress this year,” Villanova head coach Samar Azem said. “We technically only lost two games so far against number one and num- ber two. [The] tough part is we tied a lot of games.”
Georgetown met expectations as a nationally ranked opponent, managing to take 26 shots and limiting Villanova to just three shots.
Junior goalkeeper Hannah Dickinson made seven saves on ten Hoya shots on goal to keep her team close. Dickinson made five first-half saves, holding Georgetown to a 1-0 lead going into the half. The Hoyas scored twice in the second half, including a late goal to put the game on ice with less than five minutes remaining.
Villanova’s two shots on frame came from senior midfielder Susanna Soderman and graduate midfielder Lauren Ashman. There were no other opportunities that
posed a threat from the Wildcat offense.
“Every game there are lessons,” Azem said. “We’re either going to learn through failure or success. We didn’t perform like ourselves.”
In the opening 10 minutes of Sunday’s match with Providence, it seemed like it would end similarly to the Georgetown game, as the Wildcats conceded two goals in the opening 11 minutes of the match. A third for the Friars piled on in the 48th.
With the lead being 3-0 late in the game, there wasn’t much hope for Villanova, which was facing a second 3-0 loss of the week.
“Georgetown is a very good team,” Azem said. “They imposed a lot of that on us, but we also helped them impose it on us. A little of that was still lingering on us against Providence. Two goals against us early. That was the catalyst where the team said enough is enough.”
The Wildcats scored three goals in the last 10 minutes to level the score and secure a point.
Graduate midfielder Alex Fava scored the ‘Cats’ first goal of the game in the 80th minute off an assist from sophomore midfielder Gabby Koluch. Ashman followed this up with a goal of her own, assisted by Koluch along with senior forward Lauren Belcuore in the 87th minute. Less than a minute later, Soderman scored the equalizer, assisted by Fava.
In the span of eight minutes, Villanova was in the position to win the game.
“They [the players] started to recognize what was happening at Providence and they went back to taking more of a role of who we want to be and how we want to play,” Azem said. “They knew what they’re capable of. The credit goes to them. We made adjustments, but it really was the players that brought that game to life. They were so committed to get at least one point, and by the end they thought we could win it.”
Time was not on Villanova’s side, as the game ended before Villanova could find another goal.
Despite this, it was an impressive finish for the team that proved they never give up.
“We’re a young team,” Azem said. “We’re going to have to crawl our way up. We made so much progress. It’s unsatisfying in a lot of ways because we’re not failing but not succeeding in outcomes.”
The Wildcats will face Butler (9-4-4, 4-2-3 BE) on Thursday, Oct. 31 in Indianapolis in their final regular season contest of the year.
