The Georgetown men’s soccer team’s regular season opener is exactly one week away, and head coach Brian Wiese has a problem. But unlike most preseason problems—injuries, inconsistency, confusion—Wiese isn’t particularly worried about his. In fact, his problem may be the envy of the Big East. That’s because the third-year coach’s most pressing issue is what to do with the 10 starters, 19 letter winners and four talented, fast-learning freshmen that make up this year’s team.
“It’s definitely a good problem to have,” Wiese said confidently before Thursday morning’s practice. “Everyone looks sharp, everyone looks pretty good.”
Wiese worked hard to end up with such a desirable predicament. In his second year on the Hilltop, he brought eleven freshmen to Georgetown in one of the largest recruiting classes in school history.
“Last year we had eleven new faces, which is almost half the team,” he said. “You have no idea how the chemistry is going to come through or how they will adjust to the speed of play.”
The young 2007 team had an expectably rough start, beginning the season at 3-9 and 1-4 in conference play. But as the season progressed, so did Wiese’s underclassmen—the team finished 4-1-1 in its final six games and earned a berth in the Big East Conference Tournament.
“The way we finished last season is really starting to carry over for us,” junior defender and co-captain Mark Zeman said. “Everyone has a positive attitude this year and I think there are a lot of people who expect us to do well.”
Zeman returns as part of a back-line that remains completely intact from last year. Junior Len Coleman, senior Alex Pangraze, and sophomores Mostafa Ebrahimnejad, Alex Verdi (1 goal) and Ibu Otegbeye (2 asst) round out a solid defense. Wiese expects the back-line to be even better this season, which doesn’t bode well for opposing teams: Georgetown allowed just 18 goals in 18 regular season games, the second fewest in the program’s history.
Wiese is also excitedly observing a close competition for Georgetown’s goalkeeping duty. Sophomore Matt Brutto, who split time last season with senior Joe Devine, is in the running for the starting spot along with fellow sophomore Mark Wilber and freshman Erik Garciamendez. Brutto and Wilber each played a half in the Hoyas’ exhibition against James Madison University, but Wiese isn’t ready to declare who will be patrolling the net in the season opener.
“We’ve got three very good goalies,” he said. “We won’t make any premature judgments on it right now, but I think they are all very capable. They are different kinds of keepers—Mark is big, aggressive and athletic while Matt is more of a game manager with experience from last year.”
Offensively, the Hoyas’ return 100 percent of last season’s point output. However, they only managed 14 goals and are in need of a prolific scorer. They may have found it in freshman forward and Virginia State Player of the Year, Uche Onyeador.
“All of the young guys are starting to catch up,” senior co-captain Sean Bellomy (3 goals, 2 asst) said. “Uche is doing really well. He’s got a lot of potential and is starting to catch on to what we are trying to do.”
“He’s a goal scorer,” Wiese said. “He’s still a freshman and he’s still young, but that’s what he does.”
Onyeador is one of six forwards vying for playing time in two spots—another example of the team’s depth. Sophomore forward Chandler Diggs led the team in points last season with three goals and three assists. While Wiese is putting a lot of pressure on his forwards to be more productive this season, he also expects offensive output from the midfield. Sophomore Seth C’deBaca led the team with four assists last year and is joined by senior Corey Zeller (3 goals) and junior Scott Larabee (2 goals, 1 asst) in the midfield.
Wiese hopes that the newly arriving freshmen on campus will enjoy a clearer picture of this year’s team during Sunday’s final exhibition against George Mason University at 5:30 pm on Kehoe Field. While he is more than happy with his depth “problem,” there is still much to do before next Friday’s season opener against Cal State Northridge. The campaign will only get tougher throughout the season with conference clashes against perennial powerhouses Connecticut and Notre Dame, as well as recent conference standout South Florida. But Wiese’s confidence remains unfazed, and for now his expectations are sky-high.
“I think it would be a disappointment for the guys to not be in the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “It’s been a decade since we’ve been there and the guys are talking about making some history and doing things a little differently this year.”
