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In their first match since winning the first Big East Tournament championship in program history, the Georgetown men’s soccer team (16-2-2, 9-0-0 Big East) began their quest for an elusive College Cup with a decisive 3-0 victory over the Hofstra University Pride (14-8-0, 6-2-0 CAA) in a second-round NCAA Tournament matchup at Shaw Field.
“The pressures are always there, for if you don’t get it right, your season ends,” said Head Coach Brian Wiese. “But I do think the Creighton and Xavier games, the Big East slate in general, just prepares you really well for this kind of a game. I don’t think maybe it felt too different to a lot of the guys.”
The Hoyas were in an offensive groove early on in the contest, and took control four minutes into the game when junior winger Bakie Goodman found sophomore midfielder Arun Basuljevic, who buried a shot out of the reach of Hostra’s senior goalkeeper Patric Pray and helped Georgetown secure a 1-0 advantage.
Within the next several minutes, it seemed only a matter of time before Georgetown would extend their lead, as masterful possession between Basuljevic and junior striker Alex Muyl helped the Hoyas expose the opposing defense on several occasions. After some effective build-up play in the 18th minute, a slotted pass from Muyl found Basuljevic in a one-on-one with the Hofstra keeper, but his right-footed effort deflected wide off the left post. The ball stayed in play, and Basuljevic found Goodman just inside the penalty area, but a desperate lunge save from Hofstra’s Pray kept Georgetown from finding a second goal.
Hofstra began committing more men to the attack as the first half came to a close, and were almost exposed on the counterattack when junior centerback Joshua Yaro intercepted an errant pass and streaked into the Pride’s penalty area before having a curled effort saved wide of the net.
The starting XI before the fixture
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After exchanging a few dangerous opportunities, the two teams went into the break with Georgetown carrying a one-goal advantage.
Though there was some beautiful soccer played within the second half, the contest became increasingly physical as Hofstra struggled to preserve its playoff run. In the 78th minute, tensions boiled over when a tackle from Hofstra’s junior midfielder Nino Alfonso caused a scuffle between the two teams, and forced the referee to penalize Alfonso with a straight red card.
Playing down a man and desperately needing to equalize, Hofstra committed more men to the attack and allowed the Hoyas to open things up within the closing minutes of the second frame. After a late tackle inside the Hofstra penalty area in the 86th minute, senior striker Brandon Allen slotted home Georgetown’s second goal of the contest, and simultaneously became the most prolific scorer in the history of Georgetown soccer, breaking Ben McKnight’s 1995 record with 50 career goals.
Even after the Hoyas had seemingly iced the game with two minutes to play, Georgetown tacked on a final goal within the game’s closing seconds when a long ball from Yaro was booted home by Muyl from deep outside the box, sending the Hoyas into the 3rd round of the NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 victory.
Though the contest got chippy within the final ten minutes, the battle-tested Hoyas kept their cool and were able to seal a decisive victory.
Coach Brian Wiese
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“It’s an emotional game,” said Wiese, who has stressed the importance of discipline throughout his team’s 2015 campaign. “You have to be really good with the ramifications of things, like your response to being fouled and what you say to a referee in a moment of frustration. That’s all part and parcel with making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament— just making sure you’re keeping a cool head through some pretty tough times in the interim of a game.”
“We had a gameplan, and we thought we executed it very well,” said Basuljevic. “As you can see during the game, the tensions were boiled up and it was a fight, so we knew it wasn’t gonna be pretty at times. It’s another testament to our group to be able to get a win in a game like that.”
Sunday’s victory at Shaw Field was just the latest result in a historic season for the Hoyas, who have now won 14 consecutive matches and haven’t been defeated in their last 17 contests.
Because the Hoyas were awarded a No.3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, they secured home-field advantage through the tournament’s quarterfinals.
Next weekend, Georgetown will host the Eagles of Boston College (11-7-1, 4-4-0 ACC) at Shaw Field in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles defeated the University of Vermont (11-7-3, 3-2-2 America East) 1-0 in their opening match of the tournament, and upset No. 14 University of South Florida (11-5-3, 5-1-2 AAC) in the second round by a final of 2-1. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. EST.
