After making it to the brink of its first Big East finals appearance since 1999, the Georgetown men’s soccer team (11-8-2 overall, 5-4-1 BE) fell just short against No. 18 Seton Hall (12-6-3 overall, 5-5-0 BE) on Friday evening, dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 overtime contest.
Playing in cold, rainy conditions, which left Rutgers’ Yurcak field like a Slip-N-Slide, the tightly fought match fit the mold of every other Big East playoff game. Each contest in the eight-team tournament ended with a 1-0 score or went into penalty kicks to determine a winner.
“There were tremendously difficult conditions for both teams,” Head Coach Keith Tabatznik said. “Both teams played very well in them. The game was a flip of the coin the whole time. It was a tug-of-war back and forth.”
The game was marked by aggressive defense by both teams, as neither Georgetown nor Seton Hall could seem to muster any legitimate threat offensively.
“I don’t think the opportunities that either team created were great,” Tabatznik said. “Seton Hall, including their goal, had only one other very good opportunity and [sophomore keeper] Andrew Keszler made a fantastic save on it. We also really had maybe two good opportunities.”
Tabatznik was also happy with the way in which the Hoyas were able to limit Seton Hall’s chances and keep themselves in the game.
“As a team we defended tremendously,” he said. “Especially in the first half when we were under a lot of pressure, we weathered that storm well.”
The game was marked by “half-chances” according to Tabatznik. The weather conditions forced the teams to be more cautious with the ball and not take the chances they normally would have. With everyone slipping and sliding across the field, both teams were forced to be more “safety conscious.”
Despite this cautious effort, the Hoyas dominated play in the second half, but were unable to convert any of their chances. With 28 minutes left in regulation, the Hoyas had one of their best scoring opportunities when junior midfielder Danny McAnally took a beautiful cross from senior midfielder Brent Plumley and one timed it at the goal, only to be denied by Pirates junior keeper Boris Pardo.
“Seton Hall had the better of the first half for sure and we had the better of the second half for sure,” Tabatznik said. “In the second half there was that pressure, and I had the feeling that, hey, we’re gonna get this goal.”
Unfortunately, the Hoyas never got the goal that they expected, suffering only their second shutout of the entire season in a year that saw them lead the Big East in scoring. Seton Hall eventually ended the Hoyas season in the 97th minute, as sophomore midfielder Sacha Kljestan shot from 25 yards out and was able to sneak the ball past Keszler.
Earlier in the season, the Hoyas had defeated the Pirates in a physical battle to earn a berth in the Big East playoffs, but beating a nationally ranked team twice in one season proved to be too difficult for Georgetown.
“The game was physical by the nature of the emotion of the game and the field conditions,” Tabatznik said. “The way we were trying to play [Seton Hall] was more or less the same [as before] and the same went for Seton Hall.”
The disappointing end to the season was compounded by the fact that the Hoyas were not selected by the NCAA selection committee to be one of the 48 teams in the 2004 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship.
“I felt going into the Big East [Tournament] that while we are a team that is definitely good enough to be in the tourney at this stage of the year because of how we’ve done in the last two-thirds of the season that we needed to get to the final, maybe even win the whole thing,” Tabatznik said. “But we definitely needed to beat Seton Hall to get on the better side of the bubble. So I did not expect we were going to get a bid after we lost.”
However emotional the loss was, the Hoyas were not upset with the effort they put forth.
“It was extremely disheartening because it not only ended our season, but also ended the careers of our seniors,” Tabatznik said. “At the end of the season it’s always a very empty feeling, but everyone can walk away knowing we gave a tremendous effort. The team battled hard and it took a pretty special goal by Seton Hall to win the game.”
The Pirates eventually went on to lose to No.22 Connecticut (11-7-3 overall, 5-4-1 BE) 5-3 on penalty kicks in the Big East Championship and receive a berth in the NCAA tournament.
Even though the Hoyas’ run ended earlier then they had hoped this year, do not expect this year to be a one-and-done type of season for Georgetown. The team loses seven seniors next year, but returns Big East Offensive Player of the Year Ricky Schramm and the Big East’s saves leader in Keszler.
“We will be more competitive overall [next year],” Tabatznik said. “This is the first time since our great teams of the mid-90’s that we have a feeling of how good we are right now. Everyone recognizes that our early games against top-10 teams can no longer be learning experiences. They have to be wins and they can be wins.”
