On Friday, the No. 5 Georgetown men’s soccer team (7-1-0, 2-0 Big East) will head west to face off against DePaul (4-5-1, 0-1-1, Big East) in Chicago. The Hoyas are going into this match hot off an exciting 2-1 victory over Providence (6-3-0, 1-1 Big East). The Blue Devils, on the other hand, return to action after a 0-1 defeat at Notre Dame (5-3-1, 0-3-0 ACC).
GU’s home game last Saturday against the Friars allowed the Blue and Gray to bounce back from their first loss of the season in double overtime at then-No. 17 Louisville (5-2-2, 1-1-1 ACC) on Sep. 24. The crux of the game was played at the start of the second half, with a penalty goal from junior forward Derek Dodson opening the scoring, followed by an impressive assist by Dodson from the right flank to junior midfielder Foster McCune, who volleyed the ball in the bottom left corner. The last goal of the match was scored in the 80th minute by Friars’ sophomore forward Andualem Chisholm. The Shaw Field victory against the Friars should give the Hoyas the confidence they need to keep up their winning ways on Friday evening.
DePaul has had an unimpressive season so far, with a loss on Tuesday in which they only had two shots in the second half. The Fighting Irish scored on redshirt junior goalkeeper Drew Nuelle in the 90th minute to cap a hard-fought match. The Blue Demons have four players with two goals each, including senior Zach El-Shafei. Sophomore forward Jake Fuderer leads the team in assists with four and has put 53.8% of his shots on net. The Hoyas are currently second in the Big East Conference that has only just started play, while the Blue Demons are eighth.
Georgetown boasts four nationally ranked players via Top Drawer Soccer, and junior midfielder Jacob Montes and senior midfield/forward Zach Riviere have each scored four goals to lead the team. Freshman Tomas Romero and senior Giannis Nikopolidis have split the goalkeeping duties so far. Romero has a goals against average of 0.51 and a 0.778 save percentage, while Nikopolidis has 12 saves and a 0.800 save percentage.
Last season, the Blue Demons fell 2-1 in Washington, D.C., and they are not ranked nationally this season, so the Hoyas are certainly favored in their third conference game.
The game kicks off on Friday at 2 p.m. ET with live stats and a stream available at guhoyas.com. For continued coverage of all Georgetown sports, follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter.
