A cold Wednesday meant that only a few people turned up on Shaw field for the game between the Georgetown men’s soccer team (11-3-1, 4-1-1 Big East) and the DePaul Blue Demons (4-9-2, 0-5-1 Big East). The Hoyas did their best to combat the low temperature by blazing shot after shot into the DePaul net in what turned out to be one of their most dominant performances of the season so far.
“I think they sat in pretty well in the first half and really absorbed a lot of pressure. I think any time a team is defending that much, holes start opening up later in the game,” senior forward Steve Neumann said. “Credit to our offense for putting in those goals lately.”
The Hoyas began the game by probing for a chance in a crowded Blue Demon defensive formation. It didn’t take them long to find the back of the net. After five minutes of searching, junior midfielder Tyler Rudy casually chipped the ball from the top of the box past DePaul keeper Phillip Huang. The Blue Demons were left standing as the Hoyas went up 1-0.
The Hoyas continued to hold the ball and look for spaces to open up in the midfield. Tyler Rudy was again involved in a scoring chance as he was fouled in the box after 39 minutes, allowing Neumann to convert the ensuing penalty. The Hoyas headed into the break up 2-0.
Neumann found himself 12 yards out once more after the break as senior defender Ted Helfrich headed a ball from a corner kick down into the hand of a DePaul defender. Neumann converted to make the score 3-0.
Brandon Allen finally got involved in the game after 61 minutes. What was proving to be a particularly anonymous performance from the sophomore forward turned into a flurry of motion as Allen carried the ball towards the DePaul net, had his legs swept out from under him, clawed his way back onto his feet, collected the ball on the end line, and scored Georgetown’s fourth goal from almost a 90 degree angle.
At this point, more and more of the Georgetown reserve squad began to see time on the field. Despite the large number of subs, the Hoyas still dictated the flow of the game.
“We put the reserve squad into the formation that DePaul played today and we were saying to ourselves that that might’ve been harder for our starters than the game today,” said Georgetown Head Coach Wiese. “No disrespect to DePaul, it’s just that our reserves are hard and good. They honestly don’t drop our level at all.”
True to Wiese’s word, the Hoyas didn’t slow down during the changing of the guard. Sophomore defender Cole Seiler was in position to hammer home as Huang spilled the ball off of a free kick, adding another to the already impressive haul for the day. Freshman forward Brett Campbell was next to get in on the action as Tom Skelly rolled a ball across the box, which Campbell finished.
The game finished 6-0 in favor of the Blue and Gray. They’ll be back in action in Wisconsin against Marquette this coming Saturday at 8:05 pm.
