On what was a terribly wet Wednesday afternoon, the No. 7 Georgetown men’s soccer team (11-2-2, 7-0 Big East) pulled out an overtime victory over the Seton Hall Pirates (0-13-1, 0-7 Big East) by a margin of 3-2. The Hoyas were led by two goals from senior attacker Brandon Allen and one goal from senior midfielder David Witkoff.
The game was even throughout, as both Georgetown and Seton Hall were able to generate great scoring opportunities throughout the game. Despite these opportunities, both teams failed to score for the first 70 minutes of the game. The weather conditions certainly played a major factor in hindering both teams’ scoring bids, as Georgetown junior attacker Alex Muyl noted.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to play on the turf, or if (Shaw Field) was going to be too wet to play,” Muyl said. “When you’re unsure, it gets in your flow and you’re not able to perform at the same level. It was definitely a factor today.”
The turning point in the game came during the 71st minute, as Seton Hall opened the scoring with a goal from the right side of the box. Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese noted the shift in the Hoyas’ play following the goal.
“From that moment on, we became much more proactive in generating opportunities,” Wiese remarked. “The number of chances we generated in the last 20 minutes was way more than anything we did in the first 70.”
The Blue & Gray were able to capitalize on their newfound offensive vigor in the 76th minute, as Muyl connected with a streaking Witkoff, who finished his run with an excellent one-time goal from the right side of the box.
Just 48 seconds later, however, the Pirates fired back. Following a cross into the box, the Seton Hall attack was able to head the ball over Georgetown freshman goalkeeper Marcinkowski, who was caught off his line while trying to charge the ball.
“To concede a goal instantly after tying the game- that could have absolutely taken the air right out of us,” Wiese noted.
With the clock winding down, Georgetown remained calm and continued their offensive assault. Following a foul on Seton Hall inside the box, the Hoyas were awarded a penalty kick. Allen stepped up and put the shot in the back of the net to tie the game at two apiece with just seven minutes left on the clock.
With no more scoring in regulation, the game headed to overtime. Just six minutes into the period, Allen found himself free in the box, and netted the game winning goal off of assists from Muyl and Georgetown junior forward Brett Campbell.
The result marks the team’s 12th straight match without a loss, which is a new program record. This is also the first game in over a month in which the Hoyas conceded a goal. Despite this fact, Coach Wiese was very positive about the performance.
“It’s actually not a bad thing to have the shutout streak done. (The streak) is nice, but it’s also meaningless in a way. We haven’t had to have the resilience of figuring out what to do when we go down,” Wiese said. “I’m proud of the way our team fought back.”
Brandon Allen echoed Wiese’s thoughts.
“I think we’re happy to see that we can come back in a game like this and perform well. It’s always tough to come back, and I thought we did well with that today.”
The win was not without a potentially devastating blow, as Georgetown junior defender Joshua Yaro was injured late in the game. While there is no official word on his condition other than that it is a lower extremity injury, he was taken off the field on a backboard. Yaro has been key to the Hoyas’ defensive prowess, and was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week last week.
The Hoyas will resume play this Saturday at Villanova (8-7-0, 3-4-0 Big East). Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
