The Georgetown men’s soccer team held off a second-half charge from Princeton University to win 3-2 on Tuesday at North Kehoe Field. The Hoyas’ overall record is now 4-5.
On Saturday, the Hoyas played sluggishly against Big East opponent Boston College and lost 3-1. The Eagles controlled the tempo from the beginning and opened up an overwhelming three-goal lead.
Against Princeton however, the Hoyas were focused from the start; in the third minute, sophomore forward Kaiser Chowdhry opened the scoring with his first goal of the season. A Princeton defender deflected the ball away from the Tiger’s goal, but Chowdhry beat sophomore goalkeeper Eric White to the loose ball before putting it away for a 1-0 Georgetown lead.
“Preparation is a big thing. The biggest thing since the Boston College game was focus,” said Chowdhry.
Following Chowdhry’s goal, the game became a battle for midfield with Georgetown allowing Princeton’s ball-control to work the middle third. The Hoyas’ defense, anchored by the excellent play of sophomore defender Dan Gargan and first-year defender Jeff Curtin, shut down the Princeton offense as soon as the Tigers reached the back line.
“We were a little embarrassed after the BC game. We wanted to rebound,” said Gargan.
The Tigers continued to press for the tying goal, and in the 40th minute it appeared they had their chance. An excellent through ball to a Princeton forward in the box led to a cheeky one-touch pass onto the foot of senior forward Matt Douglas with no one but Hoya junior goalkeeper Tim Hogan in front of him. Hogan made the excellent point-blank save and the crowd let out a collective sigh as the Hoyas preserved a one-goal lead heading into halftime up 1-0.
In the second half, the Tigers’ physical play gave them a quick boost and they mounted a short-lived attack on the Hoyas’ goal. A Princeton ball led to an excellent shot opportunity, but Curtin was there to save the goal. The resulting corner kick was also saved by the defense.
The Hoyas quickly responded to the Tigers’ attack. After opening up in the right corner, sophomore forward Paul Brandley played a cross through the Princeton crease that made it to the foot of junior forward Dave Eder, who kicked it in for his first goal of the year.
“We’ve had the ball in the same places in previous games, but balls played in today seemed to find the right guys,” said Head Coach Keith Tabatznik. “We did very well at getting behind their back line.”
The Hoyas were relentless and just two minutes later Gargan scored his first goal of the season. He collected a loose ball in the midfield and, after taking two dribbles, unleashed a rocket from 45 yards out that screamed into the top left corner.
The Hoyas’ offensive awakening seemed to wake up the sleeping Tigers. Princeton’s ball movement had been excellent all game, but did not provide many scoring chances. With 25 minutes left in the game, the Tigers’ ran their typical give-and-go play at the top of the box. The quick one-touch found open sophomore forward Adrian Melville who put the goal away to cut the Hoyas’ lead to 3-1.
“3-1 is a tough lead. You know if they get that next goal, they’re going to have the momentum,” said Gargan. “We played hard for about 75 minutes, but we’ve got to learn to put a game away.”
Six minutes later Princeton struck again on sophomore forward Ryan Rich’s 35-yard blast that rivaled Gargan’s. The goal shifted the momentum to the Tigers, who, with 20 minutes remaining, pressed for the tying goal.
“We got a little lax after the third goal. We let them strech us out a little and they ran free through the midfield,” said Gargan.
The Tigers mounted little in the way of scoring chances in the final minutes, but when they did Hogan was there to shut the door. Princeton’s final offensive try resulted in a corner kick that Hogan turned aside to seal the game for the Hoyas.
“Anytime you hold a one-goal lead for 15 minutes it’s a good thing,” said Chowdhry. “We’re getting better as we go along.”
The Hoyas will be on the road on Saturday to play No. 7 Connecticut. Last year, the Hoyas upset the then-defending national champions 1-0.
“We’ll try to play them the same as we did last year. We’ll have a good team focus and try to dictate the tempo of the game,” said Tabatznik.
