Last Saturday, the Georgetown men’s soccer team (5-11-0, 2-8-0 BE) had more to worry about than running into the best team in the Big East, then-No. 6 West Virginia (12-1-2, 7-0-1 BE). They also collided with the man who is responsible for putting together the greatest single season offensive performance in conference history as they were brushed aside by the visiting Mountaineers, 2-0.
West Virginia senior forward Jarrod Smith netted two second half goals, giving him 14 on the season and 12 in league play. He broke the Big East record formerly held by Seton Hall’s Michael Magrinos, who poured in 11 tallies in conference play in 1995. Smith also entered the game with 27 points, now 31, earning himself the Big East record previously set by Georgetown’s Eric Kvello in 1997.
“I feel like we did a good job on him in the first half,” Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “But somebody who is a gifted goal scorer, you give him the one chance to put it in, and he’ll put it in.”
The game was scoreless at the half, but it very well could have been a 1-0 Hoya advantage. With 10:20 left in the period junior forward Mike Glaccum streaked down the left side, stopping and positioning himself at the endline with the ball under his foot. He centered it back to onrushing sophomore forward Richard Frank, who hit a low rocket that West Virginia senior keeper Nick Noble deflected with a brilliant sliding kick save.
“I thought we played very well in the first half and were unlucky not to be winning at the half,” Wiese said. “We possessed okay but weren’t getting enough strikers in the box.”
While the offense sputtered at one end, the Hoyas’ back line tried to hold up against Smith’s onslaught but was unable to shutout the native New Zealander. At the 47:25 mark, Mountaineer junior midfielder Mike Anoia crossed a ball into the box from the right wing, and Smith was able to head it to the left post out of the reach of diving Hoya keeper Andrew Keszler.
“That was a great header,” Keszler said. “Anywhere closer to me I would have saved it, and anywhere closer to the bar it would have hit the bar. It was well placed, and [Smith] did a phenomenal job finishing.”
With 26:09 remaining, Smith put the game out of reach for Georgetown as he buried a ball in the back of the net toward the right post off a left-footed cross from first year forward Tony Lindroos.
“He is a goal scorer,” West Virginia Head Coach Marlon LeBlanc said of Smith. “And goal scorers find a way in big games to score goals.”
Following the loss, the Hoyas have two more conference games and must win both to even have a chance of making the Big East tournament.
“Our Big East playoffs start right now,” Wiese said. “Because if we don’t win the next two games, our season is over.”
Georgetown failed to accomplish this feat by losing the first of these final two conference games last night. The Hoyas gave up a goal to Pittsburgh (5-9-2, 4-4-1 BE) in the final minutes of the game to lose 1-0. The Hoyas will now finish their season at home against Marquette (1-13-1, 0-9 BE) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
