With the regular season drawing to a close and the Blue Division standings still largely unsettled, every point has great implications for Big East tournament seeding. The Georgetown men’s soccer team (9-4-3, 4-3-3 BE) let valuable points slip away yesterday afternoon, falling 2-1 to Notre Dame (10-5-2, 6-2-2 BE) in its penultimate conference match.
“I thought our guys came to play to win the game, and we put together a good performance,” head coach Brian Wiese said. “But we couldn’t get the shots to fall.”
Things looked promising for the Hoyas early in the game when senior forward Peter Grasso and sophomore midfielder Seth C’deBaca managed shots on goal. However, it was the Fighting Irish who struck first with sophomore Jeb Brovsky’s shot from the top of the box in the 23rd minute.
The goal was the first allowed by sophomore goalkeeper Matthew Brutto all season. Brutto, the NCAA’s leader in goals against average and save percentage, had shutout the eight previous teams he faced.
Georgetown did not let up following the goal, taking two more shots in the first half. But senior goalkeeper Andrew Quinn stopped both, and the Hoyas headed to the break trailing, despite holding an advantage in both shots and corners.
Georgetown came out hard in the second half, producing the equalizer less than ten minutes in. After a Notre Dame foul near midfield, C’deBaca took advantage of a confused Irish defense, finding Grasso for the goal.
“It was a well-played goal,” Wiese said. “Seth had a great through ball and Peter did very well to finish it off.”
The match did not remain tied for long, though, as Brovsky scored again just two minutes later, heading an Irish free kick into the back of the net. The Hoyas tried to rally back, putting two more shots on target, but were not able to beat Quinn or his replacement, junior Philip Tuttle.
With the win, Notre Dame clinched at least a share of the Blue Division title. Georgetown, meanwhile, remains 3rd in the division with one more opportunity to improve its record this Saturday at home against Marquette.
“I have to give credit to Notre Dame, they came into the game with a league title on the line and came through to get the win,” Wiese said. “I’m also proud of our boys. I thought we were up for it today, but we just didn’t get the result we wanted. We’ll have a quick turnaround and need to refocus to prepare for Marquette.”
