Georgetown Beats Cornell, 6-1

by Mex Carey
September 3, 2012

When Georgetown Head Women's Soccer Coach Dave Nolan saw two of his players approaching him after the game with a water bucket, he said he was worried they were going to dump it on the officials. Little did Nolan know that his players were dousing him with the water, not just to cool off on a hot day, but to celebrate his 100th career win as the Hoyas scored four times in the first half en route to a 6-1 win over Cornell in the first day of play during the D.C. Invitational at North Kehoe Field.

It was the fifth-straight win to open the season for the Hoyas, who are now 5-0, while Cornell falls to 0-1. This is the second time in the last three years that Georgetown has opened the season with five-straight wins.

The six goals scored were the most by a Georgetown team since scoring six in a 6-0 win over Pittsburgh last season. The Hoyas, with four games under their belts already and playing against a Cornell team that was seeing its first live game experience of the season, attacked early and scored often, twice in the first eight minutes of the game and then adding two more before the end of the half.

"That's what we wanted to do (scoring early)," Nolan said afterward. "It's difficult for Cornell because they are just starting. We wanted to come out and set a high tempo early and get them on their back feet, which we successfully did."

Five different players scored goals, five different players had multiple points, with Sophomore Daphne Corboz (Greenbrook, N.J./Watchung Hills) scoring two goals, and seven players had at least one point. Junior Kaitlin Brenn (Branchburg, N.J./Somerville), junior Colleen Dinn (Kensington, Md./Holly Cross) and sophomore Vanessa Skrumbis (Encino, Calif./Sierra Canyon) each added a goal and an assist.

In the sixth minute of the game, Brenn took a sliding shot off her left foot from in front of the goal after a touch from Dinn on the near side of the box. The play had started off a cross from near midfield from senior Claire Magliola (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah). Just over a minute later, Brenn fed Corboz from the top of the box and the sophomore deposited it past Cornell goalie Tori Christ at 7:46, giving GU a 2-0 lead. Cornell had a chance after Georgetown's second goal on a counter when Rachel Nichols took a feed on the near side off a cross and her shot from 18 yards out was saved by redshirt freshman goalkeeper Emma Newins (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run).

The Hoyas continued the press through the first half, with 11 corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes, and after one taken from Corboz that bounced in front of the goal, freshman Eliza Loring (Dedham, Mass./Noble & Greenough) flicked the ball from the near post and it sailed in over the head of Crist, giving GU a 3-0 lead at 32:21.

Two minutes later, sophomore Ashley Shaffer (Cary, N.C./Green Hope) sent a through ball to Skrumbis, whose shot from inside the box hit off of Crist's hands, hit the far post and deflected in, giving the Hoyas a 4-0 lead at 34:00.

In the second half, Dinn scored her second goal of the season when she took left-footed shot from the edge of the box and gave GU a 5-0 lead at 52:17. Cornell got on the board 40 seconds later when Jaclyn Katz's header went past freshman goalkeeper Christina Mangels (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City), narrowing the margin to 5-1. Corboz closed out the scoring in the 68th minute with a blast from 18 yards out that shot into the top of the goal after a feed from Skrumbis.

"I thought we looked particularly sharp in the first 20 minutes, which was good," Nolan said. "I think it was partly due to them playing against someone for the first time other than themselves. One of our goals was to become a much better defensive team and the disappointing part of their goal was that it was preventable."

The Hoyas out-shot Cornell, 26-3, and had a 16-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Georgetown closes out the weekend of play in the D.C. Invitational on Monday, Sept. 3, hosting Columbia. Kickoff at North Kehoe Field is slated for 1 p.m. Live video of the game, with commentary from Mex Carey, will be available on the Georgetown Athletics website, www.guhoyas.com.

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