The Georgetown men’s soccer team (4-2-0 overall, 1-1-0 BE) saw mixed success this weekend against two Big East newcomers, defeating DePaul (2-2-2, 0-1-1 BE) but losing to South Florida (3-3-0, 2-0-0 BE) in their first action since the Maryland/adidas Classic.
The Hoyas started out their road trip, and their conference season, on a positive note Friday in Chicago, downing DePaul 4-3 in overtime. Leading the way were senior forward Ben Jefferson-Dow and junior forward Ricky Schramm, who each netted a pair of goals.
The scoring opened in the 25th minute when DePaul senior midfielder Adam Hermsen found sophomore forward Jeff DeGroot to snag the early 1-0 lead. That score remained until halftime, but the Hoyas erased it two minutes into the second half, when senior midfielder Brent Plumley directed a junior defenseman Tim Convey corner kick to Jefferson-Dow, who scored his first goal of the game.
The Blue Demons struck back quickly on an unassisted shot by senior forward Luke Rojo from the top of the box, making the score 2-1. Schramm then scored his first goal on a pass from senior defenseman Jeff Curtin to knot the game up at 2-2. Jefferson-Dow soon gave the Hoyas their first lead of the match with his second goal, this one unassisted.
The Hoyas seemed poised to win until the 85th minute, when DePaul’s Hermsen headed in a pass from sophomore forward Julian Chille, tying the score at 3-3 and sending the game into sudden death overtime. It would only take five minutes, however, for Schramm to score the game-winning goal, his second of the day, off of assists from senior midfielder Danny McAnally and first year forward Richard Frank.
“We deserved to win for sure,” said Georgetown Head Coach Keith Tabatznik. “It’s a good start to our conference season.”
From there the Hoyas journeyed south to Tampa to face a South Florida team fresh off a win over Seton Hall in its first-ever Big East game. The momentum from that game carried over for the Bulls, who used a dominating offensive attack to notch a 3-1 victory over the Hoyas despite a nine-save performance by junior goalkeeper Andrew Keszler.
The Bulls started the scoring early, with first-year forward Jordan Seabrook scoring in the 17th minute off of assists by two fellow first years, midfielders Kevon Neaves and Jason Devenish. USF would pad the lead to 2-0 before halftime on a 35-yard goal by another first year, defensemen Joris Claessens, off of a pass from senior midfielder Brian Gil.
The Hoyas climbed back into the game less than two minutes into the second half, as junior midfielder Daniel Grasso fed a pass to Schramm, who collected his third goal of the weekend and cut the deficit to 2-1.
But from then on, superior ball control by the Bulls continued to limit the Hoyas’ opportunities, and a final goal by USF’s Classens, his second of the game, capped off the scoring. The shots-on-goal differential, 23 for USF to 5 for Georgetown, was the most telling stat of the game.
“We were outplayed,” remarked coach Tabatznik. “Our guys need to do better than that.”
The loss was enough to drop Georgetown from Soccer America’s top 25 poll, where the Hoyas made their debut at No. 21 last week.
Still, coach Tabatznik is taking the loss in stride. “I’m happy with where we are right now, and with the way we played,” he said of his team’s play over the entire weekend.
Georgetown faces an important test this Friday, when Big East foe Villanova (3-3-0, 2-0-0 BE) comes to the Hilltop. The two teams split the season series last year, with the Wildcats winning 2-1 at Georgetown during the regular season and the Hoyas returning the favor in Philadelphia during the Big East tournament, winning on penalty kicks when a 1-1 tie could not be broken through two overtime periods. This Friday’s game starts at 3 p.m. on North Kehoe Field.
