Junior defender Emily Menges (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) broke a scoreless tie with a goal late in the first half and the No. 21 Georgetown women's soccer team added two more goals early in the second half en route to a 3-0 win over Columbia in the final day of play at the D.C. Invitational at North Kehoe Field.

It was the sixth-straight win for the Hoyas, who open the season with a 6-0-0 record for the second time in three years. Columbia falls to 0-2.

"We had talked about pressing them in the first 10 or 20 minutes and see if they could keep the ball with pressure and I give them credit, I thought they did a really good job of moving the ball out of our pressure," Head Coach Dave Nolan said. "We got a little frustrated, and maybe because the humidity kicked in a bit, but we responded and came through with a good win against a good team."

The Hoyas had a pair of chances in the early going but a shot from junior Colleen Dinn (Kensington, Md./Holy Cross) was off the mark and another attempt was cleared by the Columbia defense. The Lions countered and took advantage of a turnover in their offensive third and nearly had a one-on-one chance but Menges was able to clear the ball away before a shot was attempted.

After a back-and-forth 40 minutes, Georgetown broke through with just over three minutes left in the half. Sophomore Daphne Corboz (Greenbrook, N.J./Watchung Hills), who had a shot go wide in the 30th minute, dribbled along the top of the box looking for an opening. She was fouled and a free kick was given to the Hoyas. Menges took the shot from about 25 yards out and her bullet went around the Columbia wall and shot into the upper left corner of the net at 42:13. "It was a tremendous free kick" Nolan said. "Emily hit one just like that last year at Seton Hall and we've been at her to do that. You have to have the confidence to do that. She hits the ball with so much pace that it's difficult for goalkeepers to get it."

Columbia came out aggressively to start the second half and a shot from Kimmy Bettinger in the box in the opening minute of play was blocked by a Hoya defender and cleared, ending the threat. Georgetown increased its lead to 2-0 early in the second half after a corner from the far side of the west end of the field. Corboz took the corner and it bounced off the hands of Columbia goalkeeper Grace Redmon. Dinn picked up the loose ball and sent a cross on the near side of the post to sophomore Jessica Clinton (Avon, Mass./Thayer Academy). Clinton collected the ball and with the keeper out of position, knocked it in at 50:28.

Nine minutes later, freshman Marina Paul (Alisa Viejo, Calif./Laguna Beach) sent a cross from the far side of the box to junior Kaitlin Brenn (Branchburg, N.J./Somerville). Brenn collected the ball on the near post and sent a low shot past Redmon, pushing the Hoya lead to 3-0 at 59:02.

Georgetown limited Columbia to only three shots, with the back line of Menges, senior Claire Magliola (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) and juniors Alexa St. Martin (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) and Mary Kroening (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury).limiting opportunities for the Lions.

"We've got two very good center-backs and a good goalkeeper and I always feel when the team stays organized and when we have people always making sure people are in the right place, we're difficult to break down," Nolan said. "That's what we're going to need. Columbia asked a lot of questions of us because they moved the ball well, but we never gave them that final opportunity and we're going to need that next week."

Georgetown out-shot Columbia, 14-3, and had a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks.

"We had hoped to get to this stage of the season at 6-0, which is fantastic, but now we have 12 games left, 10 in the conference," Nolan said. "If we can get a result in one of these two games then we have it our own hands. You want to control your own destiny."

Georgetown travels west next weekend, playing Stanford and Santa Clara. The weekend starts on Friday, Sept. 7, with the Hoyas facing Santa Clara at 4 p.m. (ET).

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