Despite having a wealth of talent, the Georgetown men’s soccer team’s 2009 season ended in heartbreak. The Hoyas played solid soccer but lost numerous close games, the tough times culminating in a crushing loss to DePaul in the Big East Tournament during double overtime on penalty kicks.
Ian Christianson looks to break out after a disappointing freshman year. (Photo by Jackson Perry)
“It’s a really tough way to end your season,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “Just ask Ghana.”
Although the sting from that loss may linger, the Hoyas have all the reason in the world to look forward to the 2010 season.
One bright spot for the upcoming season is the arrival of a pair of fresh faces on the sidelines. During the offseason, Georgetown added Brian Gill and Andrew Quinn to the team’s coaching staff. Gill will fill the vacancy left by former Assistant Coach Josh Shapiro, now head coach at Tufts University. Quinn, a goalkeeper for D.C. United, will be the volunteer assistant and will mostly work with the four goalkeepers on the roster.
The coaching staff will have an extremely experienced team to work with this fall, something Wiese sees as a huge advantage.
“We have 11 seniors on the team who are all great players, and our sophomores are all seasoned veterans,” he said. “The guys really know each other’s strengths and weaknesses on the field.”
One of these key returning players is sophomore Ian Christianson. As a midfielder Christianson played a huge role on the team last year as a creative distributor of the ball but was sidelined with an injury for part of the season. While Christianson was in the lineup, Georgetown enjoyed multiple victories against top teams and was deemed by many to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament. After the injury, the Hoyas experienced a weak spell and lost all hopes for post-season tournament selection. Wiese will count on Christianson to anchor the Hoyas’ midfield core.
“We are as [the midfielders] are,” Wiese said. “If they’re playing well then we’re pretty hard to handle and if they’re struggling then we’re going to have a tough time.”
One surprising factor in the Hoyas’ favor this year is their schedule. A key difference, two fewer conference games, will allow Georgetown to achieve a higher RPI, one of the determining factors for NCAA Tournament selection.
Georgetown’s non-conference schedule, while lacking some of the big names of last year’s, is a challenging mix of opponents designed to both bolster the Hoyas’ NCAA Tournament résumé but also prepare the team for conference play.
“With the way the out of conference schedule is designed, we feel like we will be in great shape to make the tournament,” Wiese said. “However, we need to stay focused, because the game you look to and think it’s an automatic win, that’s the game you lose.”
The Hoyas know that with this team, they have a great opportunity to make a statement in the Big East and reach the NCAA Tournament. Wiese and all of the players are determined to put last year behind them and make the 2010 season something they won’t want to forget about.
“If we can keep the team competitive in training, keep the kids motivated, and manage the ups and downs of the season, we will be in a pretty great spot,” Weise said. “This will be a good year for us.”
