Aug. 23, 2008
WASHINGTON - The American University women's soccer team dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in overtime to Georgetown on Saturday in front of a record 1,152 fans at Reeves Field. Caitlin Durkee corralled a loose ball in the box off of a series of rebounds to give the Hoyas the game-winner in the 100th minute of play. The game marked the first for Eagles head coach David Bucciero.
AU had the first opportunity of the overtime to end the game, as Krystn Hodge broke free from the Hoya backline but could not capitalize. Georgetown returned the effort just minutes later as Samantha Baker took a shot from 25 yards out that dipped on goal, but Eagles keeper Kelsey Wiggins was able to haul it in.
Georgetown held position early on and had its best chance to break the scoreless tie at 30:28 when Toni Marie Hudson broke free to goal but Wiggins stopped the shot from point blank range. Durkee collected the rebound just inside the 18 yard box, but sent the ball over the frame to thwart the Hoya attack.
Wiggins again denied Hudson just under three minutes later, as she made a sprawling save at the near post to force a Hoya corner kick that was cleared by Stebbins and out of danger.
American took advantage of its first real offensive opportunity of the game in the 25th minute. Hodge collected the ball down the right flank and sent a splitting ball into the middle of the penalty box to find a cutting Kelsey Brasher, who used her speed to out-pace the Hoya defense and pushed the ball just past the charging Georgetown goalie Jackie DesJardin for the 1-0 advantage.
Brasher broke through the Georgetown defense again just minutes later and had an opportunity to make it 2-0 but was dragged down from behind, but the referees signaled to play-on.
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The Hoyas came out looking for the equalizer and had a chance at 51:54. Georgetown took a dangerous corner that found Nicole Smith right in the six yard box, but Wiggins again would come up big making two huge saves and smothering the ball on the line.
The Hoyas pressure finally paid off as they scored the equalizer at 57:29. Sara Jordan made a run down the left sideline and the AU defense held up trying to get the offsides call to no avail. Jordan put an easy ball into the front of the net finding Hudson wide open for the easy finish.
The Eagles had a great chance to reclaim the lead in the 75th minute as they connected on a number of passes to find Mikaela Weaver wide open on the far post, but the freshmen midfielder could not beat DesJardin.
Georgetown had a couple of chances in the waning minutes of regulation but the AU defense held strong and Wiggins made a save off of her line with 30 seconds to play to force extra time.
"While we are all disappointed not to have won the game, I do think we can take away some positives from this game. I thought at times we defended well as a team and were organized on our set pieces," Bucciero said. "I also thought Wiggins, Hodge and Marissa Crollett played fantastic today. We must learn to value possession of the ball and keep it better then we did. We have two tough games coming up against Ohio and UMBC and these will be two good tests to see if we can improve in a few areas."
Wiggins had an outstanding game for the Eagles in net and made 11 saves on the day as the Hoyas outshot the Eagles 18-8. DesJardin finished with six saves.
AU will return to action on Friday, August 29 when they head to Georgetown for a tournament in which they will play Ohio University. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.
