Following a crushing 1-0 defeat to St. John’s (7-6-3, 3-2-2 Big East) on Saturday, the Georgetown men’s soccer team (9-4-3, 5-2-1, Big East) will look to regroup and finish out the regular season strong against No. 14 Creighton (11-3-2, 7-0-1 Big East) on Wednesday. The Hoyas will face the Big East leaders on their home turf in Omaha, NE, with kickoff slated for 8:00 p.m. ET.
If the Hoyas had come out with a victory over the weekend, they would have had a chance to share the regular season Big East title, but after the frustrating loss to the Red Storm, the Bluejays clinched it for themselves with an away victory over DePaul (5-8-3, 2-4-2 Big East).
Forced to play at Cooper Field,due to inclement conditions at Shaw, Georgetown failed to generate a consistent offensive attack, despite dominating in possession. After St. John’s found a breakthrough goal against the run of play in the 44th minute on a rebound goal, the Hoyas got the ball into the box several times, but were ultimately unable to find the back of the net for the first time since their double overtime draw with Maryland (7-6-3, 4-4-0 Big Ten) on October 8.
Facing the Blue Demons on the same afternoon, the Bluejays found their first goal of the match in the 33rd minute through their leading scorer, senior forward Sven Koenig. The Creighton target man now has nine goals on the season to lead the conference. In the second half, redshirt junior defender Bryce Gibson doubled the lead. In the 73rd minute, DePaul found a goal, but the lead proved insurmountable and the Bluejays came out on top to seal the Big East title.
Outside of Koenig, Creighton is led by senior midfielder Joel Rydstrand. The Swedish playmaker ranks fourth in the Big East with five assists on the season. On the defensive line, senior defender Akeem Ward has been a standout with four assists and two goals to his credit. Overall, Creighton’s defense has been outstanding throughout the 2018 campaign, allowing just nine goals. Freshman goalkeeper Paul Kruse has racked up seven clean sheets on the year.
The Creighton defense is an imposing force, especially at home, but the Georgetown attack is not lacking in options, with two of the top five scorers in the conference in junior forward Achara and sophomore forward Derek Dodson. The Hoyas will look to escape Omaha with three points to secure the two-seed in the upcoming Big East Tournament.
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