After an opening weekend that sent the Georgetown men’s soccer team into the national rankings, they felt like they could beat an opponent anywhere.
Unfortunately, when the Hoyas left the friendly confines of North Kehoe Field last weekend for New Mexico’s TLC Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Lobo Invitational they left their winning streak behind.
The Hoyas opened the tournament on Friday night against the hometown New Mexico Lobos in front of an estimated 4,000 fans.
“It was a lot of fun,” head coach Brian Wiese said. “They had drums going and drunk students behind the goal. … It was lively out there.”
As the game started, the Hoyas appeared to be the first to crack the score sheet when the New Mexico goalkeeper let a shot from senior midfielder Seth C’deBaca loose and was deposited into the back of the net by Georgetown. But the linesman signaled an offside, disallowing the goal. Video replay later showed the goal should have counted, making for an inauspicious start to the weekend. The Lobos scored later in the half and had the lead heading into the break.
The halftime break didn’t slow the Lobos down. Things got even worse for the Hoyas as New Mexico made the score 3-0 on a Hail Mary shot from just past the midline.
The Hoyas showed their frustration and amassed a small fortune of cards, and C’deBaca was eventually shown the door with a red card.
Their resilience was not totally lost. Senior Alex Verdi netted a goal in the 73rd minute, but the Hoyas never fully recovered, and the game ended in a 3-1 victory for UNM.
“I think we played really well,” Wiese said. “The difference was that their shots went in and ours didn’t. It was just one of those games.”
But unfortunately, the Hoyas faced a tough University of Denver squad after that and lost again.
Just as before, Georgetown jumped out with a strong early chance, which they successfully capitalized on this time. Sophomore midfielder Ian Christianson was fouled in the box and deposited the ensuing penalty shot, putting the Hoyas up in the 16th minute.
But the Hoyas couldn’t sustain the pressure and Denver bounced back from the early lapse with two goals within two minutes to take the lead going into the half. The Pioneers added one more strike in the second half, for a 3-1 win.
The Hoyas look to get back on the winning track this weekend against a pair of Ivy League opponents, Princeton and UPenn.
They face the Tigers at Princeton on Friday night and then return to the Hilltop on Sunday afternoon to play the Quakers on North Kehoe at 1 p.m.
