The Georgetown men’s soccer team had a solid performance against No. 3 ranked Creighton (5-1-2, 1-0-1 Big East), with the match between two Big East powers ending in a 0-0 tie.
“You would have loved to get three points at home, but that’s a hell of a team we just played out there,” said Georgetown senior midfielder Steve Neumann.
The team seemed to get off to a nervous start, as Creighton had the better of the play for the first 20 minutes. Both the Hoyas and their fans seemed slightly on edge. However, once the game settled down a little and the team got into a rhythm, it was Georgetown who controlled the play for the remainder of the first half.
“And this was a game where, to Creighton’s credit, for the first 20 to 25 minutes they came out and were possessing and we were defending,” said Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese.
In a half with very few legitimate chances, the best came just before the end of the half as Georgetown freshman forward Brett Campbell darted inside but just barely failed to connect on the end of a low cross from junior midfielder Tom Skelly.
The Hoyas held the bulk of possession for large stretches of the game but failed to ever capitalize on their chances. For the most part, they failed to hold the ball through the middle of the field, yet they had strong attacking play for much of the first half through the flanks with their outside midfielders and backs.
“That’s kind of the way we like to play in general, no matter who we’re playing, with a lot of attacking out of the outside back position, the wing position,” said sophomore defender Keegan Rosenberry.
The usual offensive creators struggled to produce on goal, since Creighton limited the effectiveness of Neumann and sophomore forward Brandon Allen.
“They defend in a very organized way that takes away a lot of spots that Steve is naturally in. I think Steve had some moments, but I think he and Brandon struggled in the first 20 to 25 minutes. They just had really limited time today,” said Wiese.
The second half provided much of the same, with spells of possession for both teams but few dangerous chances. One point where the Hoyas did threaten came just over 15 minutes into the second half as Brandon Allen’s powerful header was blocked over the crossbar by Creighton goalkeeper Connor Sparrow. A shot by Rosenberry on the following corner went just wide of the post.
“Whenever there is a zero on the scoreboard there’s always a little bit of frustration. But I mean they’re a good defensive team so you got to hand it to them for keeping us off the board, just like you got to hand it to our back four and Gomez for keeping them off the board,” said Neumann on his team’s offensive struggles.
“The way we play, our fullbacks are very engaged, and in a game like that they start running out of juice,” said Coach Wiese
In the two overtimes both teams were clearly tired, and the game opened up more than it had in regulation. The teams went back and forth, with the more threatening play coming from Creighton. The Hoyas did manage a few solid counter-attacks, but in the end their tired legs only allowed them to hang on for the tie.
“I mean we love to have the fans here and its great to have them cheering us on just like last year,” Neumann said.
