Fresh off a 5-2 blowout win against Radford last Saturday afternoon, the Georgetown men’s soccer (2-2-1, Big East) will gear up for a two-game road-trip against VCU (2-4, Atlantic 10) and West Virginia (2-34 MAC). The Hoyas will first travel to play VCU on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. before visiting West Virginia at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Rest will be a major factor for the Hoyas in their upcoming away games, as Thursday’s game kicks off the beginning of a grueling ten-day stretch for the Blue and Gray, who will play four games over that span. Senior defender Cole Seiler acknowledged that it will be crucial that everyone contributes.
“These next few games are back-to-back-to-back,” said Seiler following the team’s win against Radford. “So it’ll definitely be important that guys coming off the bench impact the game how they did today.”
Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese knows that the tight stretch of games will offer plenty of obstacles for his team.
“These games are ones where you have almost no time for adjustments in between, and that’s the hard part,” said Wiese after this past Saturday’s win. “Any guys carrying injuries have no time to recover.”
As for the Hoyas first opponent, VCU, the Rams enter Thursday’s contest on a two-game winning streak, having recently shut out both Hartford and Jacksonville, 3-0 and 2-0, respectively. The Rams, however, struggled mightily on offense in their first four games, as they only managed to score three goals total. Seiler thinks it will be a great opportunity for the Hoyas defense to rack up their second clean sheet of 2015.
“I would just say that defensively we still want those clean sheets,” Seiler said. “We’ve only had one thus far this season, so we’re trying to lock it up defensively as well.”
On Saturday, the Hoyas will take on former Big East rival West Virginia, who lost their most recent game this past Tuesday against Wright State, 3-1. The Mountaineers have been beset by inconsistent results. These include a 6-2 win over James Madison and a 6-0 victory over San Francisco as well a pair of 1-0 losses to Navy and Michigan State.
Senior midfielder Ryan Cain, who leads the Mountaineers in scoring this season with five goals, paces the West Virginia offense. Hampered by injuries last season, the 2nd Team All-MAC selection last year has emerged this season as one of the top offensive threats in the conference. Sophomore midfield Joey Piatczyc, the 2014 MAC Freshman of the Year, has complemented Cain with a team-leading seven assists.
But while Wiese knows his team will encounter difficult tests in their upcoming four-game stretch that starts with the upcoming trip to VCU and West Virginia, he feels optimistic, especially after the team’s recent home wins against Radford and UCLA.
“Hopefully it slingshots us into the two week stretch coming for us.”
