Sept. 12, 2014

Box Score

WASHINGTON – The George Washington women’s soccer team improved its program-record start to 5-0-0 with a 3-1 win over previously undefeated ESTU on Friday afternoon at the GW Soccer Field on the Mount Vernon Campus. 

The Colonials held the Bucs (6-1-0) – the nation’s leaders in scoring offense – scoreless until the 79th minute of play and outshot the visitors, 14-5, on the afternoon to hand them their first loss of the season. Sophomore MacKenzie Cowley tallied two goals for GW and redshirt junior Nicole Belfonti added another as the squad remains unblemished through its first five matches.

Cowley wasted no time finding the back of the net as she put the Buff and Blue on the scoreboard just 1:27 into action. After settling a pass from junior Kristi Abbate, Cowley dribbled to the right side of the box and slid the ball past ETSU goalkeeper Jasmine Elliott into the lower left corner. 

GW did not let up the offensive pressure, taking the next three-of-four shots when Cowley connected again for the Colonials’ at 21:19. Senior Meg Murphy crossed the ball from the left side to Cowley who beat the keeper and sank the shot into the right side of the net.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Miranda Horn made her lone save of the day just before halftime and GW took a 2-0 lead and a 7-2 shot advantage into the break. 

In the 71st minute, Belfonti collected redshirt freshman Ivana Szwejkowski’s pass from the middle, one-touched the ball and fired from 22 yards out, curling the shot into the upper right corner of the goal to put the Colonials up, 3-0, over the Bucs.

Just over nine minutes later, ETSU’s Hannah Short got the Bucs on the board when her shot from the top left corner of the box ricocheted off of the right post and into the net. Emilee Engelhaupt was credited with the assist.

Horn and junior Ellen Conway shared time between the posts for GW with 67:36 and 22:24 minutes in goal, respectively.

The Colonials take their unbeaten record to nearby District rival Georgetown on Sunday afternoon with a 4 p.m. match at Shaw Field.