Helen Burton
The Georgetown men’s soccer team won ten games in the regular season, finished third in its division, and earned a first-round home game in the Big East tournament. It has been by all measures the best season the Hoyas have had during head coach Brian Wiese’s three-year tenure. But don’t think Wiese is satisfied yet.
“Our expectations have always been from the first minute to be an NCAA tournament team,” he said. “That was always the goal.”
Whether or not the team achieves that goal will likely come down to its performance in the Big East tournament. The Hoyas’ first game is against Cincinnati today at 2:00 p.m. on North Kehoe Field.
Georgetown (10-4-3, 5-3-3 BE) is ranked 45th in the latest RPI standings, placing it on the cusp of the NCAA tournament’s 48 team field. That makes today’s game a must-win.
“We know if we lose, we might not make it into the tournament,” sophomore goalkeeper Matthew Brutto said. “We’re like a bubble team right now. It’s pretty much do or die.”
Cincinnati (7-9-2, 4-6-1 BE) is one of the few Big East teams that the Hoyas did not face this season. The unfamiliarity does not worry Wiese.
“It’s very hard to beat a good team twice,” he said. “I always enjoy playing a new team. There’s a freshness to the game.”
Still, some of the veteran players may have a feeling they will recognize the Bearcats.
“They’re going to be an organized team, a young team, kind of like our team was last year,” senior co-captain Sean Bellomy said. Indeed, the 2007 Hoyas had a similar record to Cincinnati, finishing the regular season 7-10-1.
Hopefully the similarities will ensure the Hoyas respect the underdog Bearcats, whose record belies the real strength of their team. Appropriately for a young and inexperienced team, Cincinnati struggled early on, but steadily improved as the season progressed. They head into the postseason with four wins in their past six games.
“They’re peaking from a soccer point of view right now,” Wiese said. “They’re very organized, and they’re going to be very hard to break down. It’s a game where one goal might win it for either team.”
That means the pressure will be on Brutto and the defenders in front of him to continue their superb play. Defense has been the Hoyas’ strong suit all year long-the team posted ten shutouts in the regular season. They will be challenged by a pressing Bearcat attack, led by sophomore Branden Stelmak, who has scored four goals this season.
Georgetown managed four goals in its final regular season game against Marquette, a scoring trend they are hoping to continue. But the Hoyas will have to contend with center back Brad Simpson, Cincinnati’s lone senior and defensive anchor. Simpson was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week once during the regular season and poses a threat coming forward as well-he has scored four goals, tied for the team lead with Stelmak.
One of Georgetown’s biggest advantages has nothing to do with personnel. The home field advantage the team fought for all season could prove to be an important factor, and not just because of a partisan Hoya crowd. After a couple days of rain, conditions will not be great on the grass at Kehoe, and a Bearcats team accustomed to playing on turf may find it hard to adjust.
“It’s a funny field at this time of year. Some of it’s very soft and some of it plays very well,” Wiese said. “But our guys are familiar with it, and we’ll hopefully have that level of familiarity play into our hands.”
If the Hoyas defeat the Bearcats, they will travel to Tampa to take on South Florida. It would be the second meeting this season between two budding rivals. The first match was a tough home loss for Georgetown, with the Bulls winning 2-1 on a late goal. South Florida dominated the Hoyas 4-0 in last year’s tournament.
“We know we can stick with them,” Brutto said. “If we meet up with them again, it’s revenge to pay.”
But before the team can think of revenge, they have to take care of business against Cincinnati today.
“Anything can happen. We just need to take it one game at a time,” Bellomy said. “It’s going to be a battle like any other Big East game.”
