The AU Women's Soccer team just keeps rolling.
Tuesday, the Eagles (6-1-1) dismissed District rivals Georgetown, 3-1, at Reeves Field to extend their unbeaten streak to six matches and give themselves even more momentum heading into their Patriot League opener at Holy Cross on Saturday.
The loss avenges a 5-1 defeat to the Hoyas last season - a deceptive result, as the Eagles were resting many starters between two crucial PL matches.
Furthermore, the win puts an exclamation point on the statement the Eagles have been making through late August and into September: The team can now come into any game - not just Patriot League matches - looking to not only play well, but to win.
"I just thought the program was ready to take a step up this year," said AU head coach Michael Brady. "Still, our main focus is to win the conference tournament, but I thought we're good enough and deep enough to get a better start. This is beyond our expectations though."
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Eagles' early -eason success has been the team's killer instinct in the attacking end, which showed repeatedly on Tuesday.
The Hoyas (3-4-0) outshot the Eagles 13-9. But AU executed two precise free kicks and one sneaky counterattack to perfection, while Georgetown just could not finish.
Sophomore defensive midfielder Margaret Runeari played perhaps the largest part in AU's win. First, Runeari sent the Eagles ahead in the 35th minute, scoring on a deftly struck 20-yard free kick.
Runeari and freshman defender Annette Scott both stood over the ball before they decided Runeari would take the kick.
"I felt comfortable because all it was going to be was a chip, not a long driven ball like Annette usually takes," Runeari said.
Later, with AU leading 2-0, Runeari set up the insurance goal on a sweeping counterattack resulting from a poor Hoya corner kick. Junior forward Marcela Ricupero reached the precise throughball, coolly evaded a Hoya defender, and finished low past their 'keeper, Jade Higgins, in the 62nd minute.
Runeari did all this despite playing a position she's still not entirely adjusted to. But the former defender has already adjusted well, totaling two goals and five assists on the young season, many to Ricupero, the team's leading scorer.
"It's hard to adjust," Runeari said. "I'm just trying to see the field as much as possible. But I'm starting to feel more comfortable on the pitch."
AU's second goal came between the other two Runeari catalyzed, and was every bit as classy.It came just bit over six minutes into the second half, through another AU set piece.
This time, Scott did take the free kick some 40 yards from goal. Her pinpoint drive found the head of target forward Jana Lee, who scored her fourth goal of the year by knocking it home past Higgins and a cluster of Hoya defenders.
Lee's ability to consistently rise above defenders to win aerial battles, regardless of carnage, has been another key for the Eagles this year.
"Goal scorers need to have a little bit of a mean streak," Brady said of Lee, Ricupero and senior Maha Elnabawi, the latter having helped draw both AU free kicks that led to goals. "It looks like we've got that."
After gaining a 3-0 lead, AU did fall victim to a letdown in the final portions of the match. After several late chances, the Hoyas finally punished the Eagles when forward Casey McCann rocketed home a cross from midfielder Sara Jordan with about five minutes left.
But by this point, the Hoyas were frustrated, and more often took those frustrations out on AU players than the AU goal.
