Despite ending last season on one of the highest notes in program history, retaining the majority of their starting line-up and recruiting a promising freshman class, the preseason hasn’t exactly been easy for Georgetown men’s soccer. The difficulties the team has faced in preparation for the upcoming season were highlighted in a 3-1 loss to familiar foes Syracuse University this past Sunday.
Coach Brian Wiese opened his remarks on the game by saying, “I think it’s a good lesson for us. Syracuse won the game in the first ten minutes with how they came out. Our guys came out like it was just a pre-season scrimmage. Then boom! We were down 2-0.”
True to coach Wiese’s word, the Hoyas started the game sluggishly as their orange counterparts buzzed around the field. In just the eighth minute, Hoya junior goalkeeper Tomas Gomez came out of his net to make a challenge on the onrushing Syracuse freshman forward Chris Nanco. Nanco went down and gave SU the resulting spot-kick opportunity. Junior midfielder Nick Perea calmly converted to give the Orange the 1-0 lead.
Perea didn’t waste any time adding to Syracuse’s goal tally. In the 11th minute, junior defender Jordan Murrell crossed a ball right to Perea, who calmly slotted the ball past Gomez to make the score 2-0. At this point, the Hoyas looked completely out of their element.
Perea’s involvement continued in the 56th minute when he played a pinpoint through ball to Syracuse sophomore midfielder Stefano Stamoulacatos who finished it off, putting the Hoyas behind 3-0. The only consolation the Hoyas could find in the game came in the form of another penalty, which senior midfielder Steve Neumann converted to make the final score 3-1.
The loss brought the Hoyas preseason record to one loss and one tie, which is surprising given the strength of the squad and recent achievements.
“We played a game against a good team,” Wiese said following his team’s disappointing performance. “We scheduled a game against a good team because we wanted to see what things we needed to address and what some weaknesses were, areas that we needed to shore up. We certainly found those today.”
Defense is a particular point of concern for the Hoyas after thise two frustrating showings. Of the back line that took the Blue and Gray to the College Cup Finals, only sophomores Keegan Rosenberry and Cole Seiler remain. Former seniors and defensive cornerstones Tommy Muller and Jimmy Nealis were both drafted to play professionally in Major League Soccer.
Freshman defender Joshua Yaro partnered with Seiler in central defense during the preseason. However, left back remains a weak position for the Hoyas.
“Left back is a problem for us,” said Seiler. “There’s a lot of competition over there, but Josh Yaro has been starting for us in the center of defense and has been doing really well.”
While Georgetown’s defensive problems are being mulled over, the issues of understanding and touch are right at the forefront. The Hoyas struggled to link passes together due to the physical approach to the game taken by their opponents.
“There were a lot of set pieces in this game and a lot of fouls. It was a little chippier than we would’ve liked it,” said Wiese.
Despite a rash of free kicks and the efforts of super sophomore Brandon Allen, Georgetown failed to capitalize on any of the chances afforded to them. The Hoyas especially struggled when it came to executing set pieces.
“I would argue that we created nowhere near as many chances as we would have liked to,” Wiese said. “We needed to get a little more aggressive in terms of how we’re going to goal and attacking defenses. While we created some chances, we need to get even better.”
Due to Allen’s success last year, his name and the Georgetown offense converting chances will likely be synonymous this season.
“He’s important. He’s a goal scorer. He missed a spring with us because he was away with the U-20 national team for a bit. That was maybe not the best thing for him in terms of development. So he missed a big window there. He’s almost still finding his feet. But, when he gets his chances, he’s as lethal as anyone I’ve ever seen.”
The Hoyas are back in action in Berkeley against the University of California Golden Bears on the 30th at 5:00PM. They then challenge Stanford Cardinal on September 1.
