With eleven teams within two games of first place, the Big East is as muddled a field as it has been in recent memory. True to form, 120 minutes couldn’t decide a winner between Georgetown (7-2-2, 2-2-2 BE) and Seton Hall (6-5-1, 2-3-1 BE). The two teams settled for a 1-1 tie yesterday evening on North Kehoe Field.
“It feels like a loss,” Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese said of the game. “All the guys are walking around like they’ve lost the game, and I think that’s a credit to where our expectations are, which is a good sign.”
While the Hoyas dominated play for most of the game, tallying 22 shots to Seton Hall’s 14, the best chance at clinching a victory belonged to the Pirates. With just under a minute left in the first overtime period, Seton Hall freshman midfielder Bradley Kerstetter collected a through ball from sophomore forward Sam Petrone just in front of the Georgetown goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Mark Wilber denied Kerstetter, deflecting the shot to the foot of Petrone—the Big East goal leader’s shot sailed high out of danger.
“At the end of the day, we could’ve lost it if Wilber doesn’t save the game in overtime,” Wiese said. “That’s soccer, we could’ve had that game but we also could’ve come out of it with zero points.”
It took an early second half comeback for Georgetown to even get to overtime. The Pirates opened scoring just seven minutes into the game when a Wilber save fell to the foot of sophomore forward Dritan Sela, who deposited his side volley past the Hoya keeper. Georgetown threatened several times at the end of the first half, including a long-range shot from sophomore defender Mostafa Ebrahimnejad that clanked off the crossbar just before intermission.
The Hoyas finally drew even just under ten minutes after halftime. After junior midfielder Scott Larrabee was dragged out at the top of the box, senior midfielder Corey Zeller ripped the ensuing free-kick around the wall and into the side-netting.
“The keeper left an opening at the far post,” Zeller said. “I just opened up my hips and curved the ball keeper-side, and it was fortunate enough to go in.”
Energized by the equalizer, the Hoyas turned it on to close regulation with a series of impressive build-ups and chances. With ten minutes to go, Zeller crossed a ball into senior forward Peter Grasso, who collected the cross and dished it back out to Zeller. The midfielder found Grasso again at the near post, but Grasso’s shot went just wide, denying the team what would have been a textbook winner.
“We had a lot of opportunities,” Zeller said. “We aren’t really happy with the result—this is definitely a game we would have liked to have won, and we definitely had the opportunities to do it but weren’t able to capitalize.”
