On Wednesday, the No. 18 Georgetown Men’s Soccer team (11-3-2, 5-2-1 Big East) will host Creighton (9-5-2, 3-3-2 Big East). This will be the Hoyas’ last regular season match before heading into the Big East Tournament. Georgetown started out the season strong and has maintained both a top 25 ranking and a second place spot in their conference, but they have struggled in their last two games, drawing Providence (5-7-4, 2-2-4 Big East) and losing to St. John’s (8-6-2, 5-2-1 Big East).
Creighton and Georgetown finished out the regular season together in 2016 in Omaha. In that game, No. 15 Creighton plowed through Georgetown, winning 3-0. However, Creighton was ranked and finished third in the Big East last year, while Georgetown made neither the NCAA nor the Big East Tournament. This year, the tables have turned as Georgetown is clear favorite.
Despite Georgetown’s NCAA ranking, head coach Brian Wiese says Creighton is still a contender in this match.
“They’re coming in saying a tie is probably not good enough. So they need three points,” Weise said. “I don’t think you’re going to get the same kind of a game that we got in the previous two in terms of a team that’s really gonna bed in and try and make it hard to score. They have to get goals themselves. And so, I think it’ll be a pretty entertaining game in that way I think we have two attacking teams that play good soccer and both are looking for three points.”
With one day of play remaining in the regular season, the Big East’s playoff picture has almost no certainties. Georgetown currently sits tied for second with St. John’s in the conference. If the Hoyas win and St. John’s does not, the Hoyas would clinch the second seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament, as No. 15 Butler (11-4-1, 7-1 Big East) has already clinched first place. If the Hoyas lose or tie, however, and either St. John’s or Xavier (10-4-2, 5-3 Big East) wins their final match on Wednesday, then Georgetown will be knocked down to either third or fourth place.
This match is also Senior Day. The Hoyas will honor four seniors: midfielders Matt Ledder, Christopher Lema, and Declan McCabe, and forward Zach Knudson.
“I thought the guys did a really good job, starting really in January with their winter and their spring, of setting a really good tone and working hard and I thought their spring was good and I think that was attributed to that group of seniors and I think that was really important,” Weise said about his senior leaders. “I think the tone for a successful season we’ve been having in the fall really was set in the winter and every team will rise and fall with the quality of senior leadership so i think that’s a real tribute to these four guys. I think they’ve done a really good job.”
The match will be played at Shaw Field this Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. It will also be streamed on the Big East Digital Network.
