The #5 Georgetown men’s soccer team (7-1-1, 2-0-1 Big East) could not breach DePaul (4-5-2, 0-1-2 Big East) on Friday afternoon, as the two sides grinded to a 0-0 draw. Despite firing 24 shots and earning 15 corner kicks, the Hoyas were stymied by a resolute Blue Demon defense led by redshirt junior goalkeeper Drew Nuelle, who recorded eight saves.
Georgetown’s first great chance came in the 17th minute, when junior midfielder Foster McCune, left unmarked, headed wide after a cross from junior midfielder Jack Beer. Four minutes later, a dangerous DePaul freekick was fizzed into the box, just past the stretch of senior defender Max De Bruinje.
In what was becoming a lively first half, a similar Blue Demon free kick was aimed at the back post for sophomore midfielder Youssef Ramadan, whose subsequent shot was blocked. Then, in the 36th minute, junior forward Derek Dodson, GU’s leading scorer, bent a shot from the corner of the box, which Nuelle uncomfortably parried away before the ball was cleared.
Dodson and sophomore midfielder Sean Zawadzki forced two more saves from Nuelle in quick succession as the second half started, the first of 10 shots the Hoyas would attempt in the second 45. The home backline held serve, however, stymying a Georgetown side who held the lion’s share of the possession all afternoon.
Freshman midfielder Dante Povlara, who has displayed a penchant for the spectacular in his brief time on the Hilltop, twice nearly found the breakthrough with a few minutes remaining. First, dribbling past his defender in the 86th minute, Polvara managed to get a shot off that went just high. Some sixty seconds later, Polvara skipped past two defenders into the box before skying over from twelve yards out, as the match verged on overtime.
The Blue & Gray continued piling up chances without a breakthrough into the extra periods. Junior midfielder Paul Rothrock tried to play a ball across net 90 seconds into the first overtime, which Nuelle handled, before Zawadzki and Dodson both missed the target. GU’s best chance of overtime came in the 97th minute, when senior defender Dylan Nealis flicked on a corner kick across the face of goal, which Nuelle confidently stopped.
It was a play that summed up the afternoon for the Hoyas, who could not take advantage of a DePaul side that had lost two straight matches.
“You have to give a lot of credit to DePaul, they’re very organized and very committed but we still generated 24 shots and 15 corners which is a good volume of opportunities on the road,” Hoyas head coach Brian Wiese said. “We’ll take some positives away but overall things just didn’t fall our way.”
Georgetown will look to get back to winning ways against Lehigh (7-2-0, 3-0-0 Patriot League) on Tuesday at 3 PM on Shaw Field. Live stats and a stream are available at guhoyas.com. Follow @GUVoiceSports on Twitter for coverage and coverage of all fall sports at Georgetown.
