As students return to the Hilltop they will see the football team practicing in the shadows of the Southwest Quad and other athletes preparing for the upcoming season. What they won’t see is the men’s soccer team sweating away on Kehoe, working to prepare for their season opener in the D.C. College Cup next weekend. That’s because the Hoyas are working hard at camp, coming together without the distractions that can be a part of any college campus.
The Hoyas are looking to improve on last season’s 11-8-2 record, which ended with a heartbreaking 1-0 overtime loss to Seton Hall in the Big East semifinals. With eight seniors and five juniors returning, the Hoyas are healthy and armed with a lot of veteran talent, making their quest for increased success a lot easier. Expectations are especially high this year after the Hoyas were picked to finish fourth in the new, expanded Big East conference behind UConn, Notre Dame, and Seton Hall.
Among eight returning starters are senior defender Jeff Curtin and junior forward Ricky Schramm. Schramm, the reigning Big East offensive player of the year, was named the Big East’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, along with Seton Hall junior Sacha Kljestan. As a sophomore, Schramm led the Big East in points and goals with 13 scores and six assists in 20 games played. He was selected as a member of the All-Big East First Team and also named to the NSCAA All-South Atlantic Regional Third Team.
With 53 points in two years, Schramm is already 12th all-time at Georgetown in career points and 10th in goals with 22. His success can be attributed to getting in a good position to score said head coach Keith Tabatznik. “You can’t win games without scoring goals.”
Senior co-captain Jeff Curtin gives the Hoyas the same promise as Schramm for a successful season on the defensive side of the field. Georgetown’s anchor on defense, Curtin was All-Big East Second Team last year and was named to the Second Team NSCAA All-South Atlantic Region Team. Last season, Curtin had five goals and one assist from his defensive position. Earlier this week, Curtin was named as one of three defenders to the 2005 College Soccer News Pre-Season All-America First Team.
Along with the steady goalkeeping of Andrew Keszler, the Hoyas look to start out their winning ways early and often this season. “We will be more competitive overall [this 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-ten teams can no longer be learning experiences. They have to be wins and they can be wins.”
Georgetown opens up their season against Howard on Friday, Sept. 2 when they host the 2005 D.C. College Cup.
