The Georgetown Hoyas Men’s soccer team defeated the Navy Midshipmen at North Kehoe Field 2-0 Tuesday in a critical early-season test for the young Hoya team.
Last Saturday, the Hoyas lost a heartbreaker at Syracuse 3-2. In the game, George-town gave up a two-goal lead in the last five minutes of regulation and eventually lost in overtime.
The Navy match, however, started off with intense George-town pressure. Good midfield work by the Hoyas created numerous early chances. The crossbar saved the Midshipmen from a fifth-minute rocket courtesy of sophmore midfielder Kevin Sindelar, and seven minutes later Navy junior goalie Matt Copare did well to tip a Hoya strike over the crossbar as the ball was heading goalward.
Fifteen minutes in, the Hoyas finally made their breakthrough. A good counter-attack down the right flank found streaking sophomore defenseman Dan Gargan, who provided a perfect ball to the far post. First-year forward Kemmons Feldman headed in from close range, and the Hoyas took a 1-0 lead.
The host’s euphoria was curbed dramatically in the 24th minute, as Georgetown senior goalkeeper and captain Brian O’Hagan contested a Navy long ball in the box. A mid-air collision occurred, and O’Hagan came down injured. He was eventually helped off the field and did not return; junior Tim Hogan subbed in to replace O’Hagan.
After the Feldman goal, Navy settled down and began to produce chances on offense, but it was Georgetown sophomore forward Kaiser Chowdhry that almost found the back of the net in the 39th minute. A last- second deflection put the ball out of bounds, and Navy was lucky to be only a goal down.
The Hoyas would eventually get the decisive second goal four minutes into extra time in the first half. A beautiful freekick from the left side by junior midfielder Carl Skanderup found lurking first-year defender Jeff Curtin at the far post. He volleyed home emphatically to give his team a 2-0 advantage and an enormous boost going into the half.
The first half was a Georgetown romp; the team outshot the Midshipmen 11-2 and held a two goal lead. Navy Head Coach Greg Myers even yelled to Hoya Head Coach Keith Tabatznik: “Sorry we didn’t show up the first half.”
The second half saw a drastically different Navy team take the field. Better organized and settled down, they began to take the match to the Hoyas. Navy shots in the 53rd and 55th minutes produced great saves by Hogan, and a repeat of the Syracuse game was possible. However, the Hoyas showed grit and character, and did not back down from the Midshipmen. The half settled into an intense and often times heated midfield battle; bodies flew, and the teams kept up a frantic pace. Seven yellow cards were given out in the second half alone, and on several occasions it seemed as if the referee was going to lose control of the match.
The Hoyas held true. Chowdhry should have done better with his opportunity in the 67th minute from point-blank range; Copare made a great save, and Navy was still in it. The rest of the game was filled with more of the same tough tackling and heated midfield exchanges. Georgetown finished off the game holding off Navy’s late challenges to register their first win of the season. The Hoyas record is now 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the Big East.
Tabatznik preferred to look at the positive first-half performance of his young team rather than the evenly-matched second half.
However, Tabatznik did say, “In the second half we stopped keeping the ball, and it was slightly disappointing, as it was important for us to finish off the game strong considering that we also earned a two-goal lead last Saturday [and did not win].”
Tabatznik did not comment on the status of O’Hagan for the next game.
The Hoyas will next play on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Big East rival Providence. Georgetown will be seeking their first Big East win.
