The Georgetown men’s soccer team (8-5-0 overall, 4-2-0 BE) extended its season-high winning streak to five games with a 3-2 win at Rutgers (5-5-3 overall, 2-2-2 BE) Wednesday.
Georgetown, the highest scoring team in the Big East, took a 2-0 lead into halftime. In the 35th minute junior midfielder Danny McAnally put the Hoyas on the board with a shot from 25 yards out that just slipped in the top left corner of the net. The Hoyas were then slowed by the Scarlet Knights’ defense, but kept attacking and scored a rebound goal by first-year forward Mike Glaccum. Glaccum shot past helpless Rutgers sophomore keeper Lubos Ancin in the final minute of the first half.
“We are in a good position right now,” Georgetown Head Coach Keith Tabatznik said. “Our tough games that we played early are paying off and our intensity level has improved over the last couple of weeks.”
However, it was Rutgers who played with intensity to open the second half. The Scarlet Knights scored two goals in the final 20 minutes of play to equalize the score. But junior defender Jeff Curtin’s redirection of senior captain defender Dan Gargan’s free kick sealed the victory for the Hoyas in the 74th minute.
The Hoyas put away the Scarlet Knights despite being outshot 17-9. They were able to score three goals past Ancin, the reigning Big East Goalkeeper of the Week. Ancin registered two shutouts and did not allow a goal in 209 minutes of action last week.
Georgetown was able to crack the stellar Rutgers goalkeeper without a goal from former Big East Player of the Week, sophomore forward Ricky Schramm. Schramm leads the league in points (25), points per game (2.08), goals (11) and goals per game (0.92).
His play has been a key to the Hoyas’ success all season.
“He finds himself in good places and good positions,” Tabatznik said. “You can’t win games without scoring goals.”
Yet, as the season winds down, opposing defenses are focusing on him more and more.
“They [opponents] are starting to key on him pretty tight,” Tabatznik said. “He keeps scoring despite that because his teammates are getting him the ball in good spots. They deserve a lot of credit.”
Schramm’s teammates took a page out of his book to earn most of the credit against Rutgers. The strikers were opportunistic and finished what chances they had, even in tight quarters.
The rest of the season is “in our hands,” Tabatznik said. “If we keep winning we’ll make the playoffs.”
The Hoyas have their chance to increase their win streak to six games at home on Saturday against Villanova (5-3-3 overall, 3-2-1 BE) at 1 p.m.
