Sometimes all the skill in the world won’t translate into a victory. You have to want to win more than your opponent, and oftentimes playing with heart can overcome any disparity in talent. Following a lackluster 4-1 loss to No. 8 Notre Dame last Saturday, the Georgetown men’s soccer team bounced back with an emphatic non-conference victory over visiting Lafayette on Tuesday, 3-0.
“In previous games we haven’t been working as hard as we did today,” senior co-captain Tim Convey said. “Against Notre Dame we came out flat … and finally [today] everybody came out and played hard. It was a full team effort.”
In the first-ever meeting between the schools, the Hoyas looked to defend their home turf against the Leopards (7-3-1, 2-1-1 PL), who won their sixth Patriot League Championship last season and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Lafayette had a chance to silence the home crowd early just minutes into the game as they headed a direct kick from the left side into the net, only to have the goal negated by a foul in the box.
After nearly 40 minutes without any great chances, the Hoyas (5-9-0, 2-6-0 BE) broke through on sophomore keeper Ben Jacobs when senior forward Ricky Schramm passed to the right wing for forward Mike Glaccum whose left-footed strike deflected off first-year Leopard midfielder Sal Fusari, just too high for Jacobs to get a finger on. Glaccum would play a role in each of the Hoyas’ three tallies as the junior added a career-high two assists and embodied the newfound intensity of the Blue and Gray.
“It’s always good to come out and get a win,” he said. “The team played really well as a whole today. We did a lot of things right that we haven’t been doing the past couple of games … like lacking intensity, and we’ve been getting overmatched. We knew we were probably the more skilled team. It was just a matter of matching their effort.”
Less than three minutes after notching his third marker on the season Glaccum played part in a Hoya triumvirate at the top of the box as sophomore midfielder Conor Neusel passed to Schramm, who passed across the box to Glaccum and broke to the net. Schramm took the one-touch from Glaccum and sent the ball off his left foot to the far post. The goal was Schramm’s team-leading tenth goal on the year, and the eighth in his last nine games.
Glaccum sealed the Georgetown victory with just 4:24 to go in the game when he won the ball at midfield and launched it ahead to sophomore forward Richard Frank, streaking down the right side. Frank crossed the ball to freshman forward Justin Kondos, who flicked it off the outside of his right foot past the goalie. The goal was the first of Kondos’ career.
“[Glaccum] is really an unsung hero,” Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “He is one of our smarter players, and he does a lot of the little things that you really don’t notice. But he’s also a pretty good goal scorer. At the end of the day [he] is going to be one of next year’s leaders, and it’s good for us to see that he can put the ball in the back of the net.”
Georgetown’s stellar defense also helped as the team and senior keeper Andrew Keszler posted their second home shutout in a row.
“[Lafayette] is a dangerous team,” Keszler said. “It has to be a team effort, and we all defended well. We tried to get everyone organized and motivated, and I think we did well with that today.”
In addition to helping the Hoyas rediscover their passion, the game also gives them a good idea of what to expect against Big East Blue Division leader No. 6 West Virginia (11-1-2, 6-0-1 BE), who Coach Wiese admits plays a “similar style.” Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday on North Kehoe Field.
