Just three days after traveling to Columbia, S.C. to take on the 15th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, the NC State women’s soccer team will head up to Georgetown on Sunday to battle the No. 7 Hoyas at 1 p.m.
Coming off a 2-1 loss to the Gamecocks, the Wolfpack (0-1) has a short turnaround before taking on a Georgetown team that was just one game away from the national championship last year, losing to eventual national runner-up UNC-Chapel Hill in double overtime.
Georgetown, currently the highest-ranked team on the Wolfpack’s schedule, lost to graduation its two leading goal-scorers Caitlin Farrell and Kyra Carusa, and star goalkeeper Arielle Schechtman, but the Hoyas (0-0) certainly don’t lack talent.
Leading the Hoyas this season is All Big East First-Team forward Paula Germino-Watnick, a senior who scored eight goals and notched six assists last season, and has experience on the U.S. Women’s National Team U-23 squad. Opposite her on the wing is Amanda Carolan who posted four goals and four assists in 2018.
On defense, Georgetown is home to one of the best defenders in the country, Meaghan Nally, a 5-foot-7 defender who Top Drawer Soccer ranks as the third-best defender in Division I women’s soccer. Nally is a brick wall on defense but is no slouch offensively either, with three goals and three assists last season.
The reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year Nally headlines a Hoyas defense that conceded just 10 goals on 199 shots in 25 games during the 2018 season. On the offensive side, the Hoyas are an efficient juggernaut; they scored 53 goals on 410 shots last season, good for over two goals per game and a goal percentage of 25%.
In goal for the Wolfpack will be junior Jessica Berlin who conceded two goals on seven shots against South Carolina Thursday night. Senior defender Krissi Schuster scored the Pack’s lone goal, but if the underdogs want to pull off a big upset they’ll need strong contributions from senior midfielder Tziarra King, who scored two goals in an exhibition match against College of Charleston, and senior midfielder Paige Griffiths, who assisted on Schuster’s goal.
Anchoring the Pack’s defense alongside Schuster are sophomore Jenna Butler and redshirt sophomore Lulu Guttenberger.
NC State held its own against South Carolina, even holding a 1-0 lead at one point in the first half, and will likely need to find an extra gear if it wants to take down the defending Big East champion Hoyas.
