No. 2 Georgetown men fall to Boston College in Sweet 16
WASHINGTON – The No. 2/1, and third-seeded, Georgetown University men’s soccer squad tied the No. RV/16 Boston College Eagles (11-7-2), 1-1, on Sunday afternoon in the third round of the NCAA Tournament at Shaw Field. Unfortunately, the Hoyas failed to advance in the tournament falling in penalty kicks, 5-4. Georgetown ends the season with a mark of 16-2-3 and continues its program-record 18-game unbeaten streak.
“It’s hard because this is the second year in a row we had a team that might be able to win the whole thing and going out on penalties is a hard way to go out. But, you’ve also put yourself into penalties which is the problem with it,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. “I have to give a lot of credit to Boston College, they were very good and from our point of view I don’t think we were playing how we like to play until we scored the goal.”
The first good scoring opportunity of the game came in the 10th minute from junior forward Alex Muyl (New York, N.Y./Bard) as he shot a ball from the top of the box just right of the goal with keeper Alex Kapp beat. From that point on, however, it was BC’s game as the Eagles controlled the pitch.
In the 19th minute, the Eagles got on the board as Isaac Normesinu took it to the left endline and sent it in. Trevor Davock was waiting in the box and one-timed it into the net to give BC the 1-0 lead.
The Eagles continued to pressure as one shot was saved by freshman goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski (Alamo, Calif./De La Salle), and another was wide as the Hoyas looked out of sorts. Senior forward Brandon Allen (Old Bridge, N.J./St. Joseph) had the best look of the first half, as a ball from Muyl went to the forward in the box who shot it wide right.
In the final 10 minutes, the Blue & Gray had a pair of corner kicks to give the squad momentum. GU had looks at the goal, but didn’t truly test Kapp. The teams went into the half with Boston College leading, 1-0.
Three minutes into the second half, junior defender Joshua Yaro (Santa Barbara, Calif./Cate School) was forced to come up with a big block on the open net as Marcinkowski came off of his line to stop the pressure. Georgetown continued to struggle to get the ball through the midfield as it was given up in dangerous positions allowing Boston College a number of chances.
The Hoyas finally began to look dangerous 15 minutes into the second half.
Georgetown had some looks down the right side and the Blue & Gray was awarded its first corner kick of the half in the 60th minute. Sophomore midfielder Christopher Lema (Ridgefield, N.J./St. Stephen’s Episcopal School) took the corner on the right and swung it to the back post where senior defender Keegan Rosenberry (Ronks, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) was waiting to volley it into the net and tie the game at one.
From that point on, both squads had chances as Marcinkowski made some big stops and the BC defense stepped up to block every GU attempt. In the final 10 minutes, the Hoyas were the better side whipping in balls and forcing the Eagles to come up with big stops as nothing made it through the back line.
Despite the chances, neither team could find the game winner sending the game into overtime tied at one.
Georgetown had more left in the tank in both overtime periods with a number of opportunities to get the golden goal. The Hoyas had a pair of corner kicks early, and then had shots from Muyl and junior forward Brett Campbell (Wallingford, Pa./The Haverford School) which were blocked. This would result in a final overtime period to decide the game.
In the 103rd minute, Muyl was just as aggressive as he was in the first half having a shot go wide and continuing to put pressure on the Eagle defense. With under a minute to play, Yaro took the ball the length of the field and was awarded a corner kick with 10 seconds remaining. Muyl sent in the corner, and senior defender Cole Seiler (Anderson, S.C./Christ Church Episcopal School) headed it at the back post, but the ball went just wide.
This resulted in the 1-1 final and it coming down to penalty kicks for who would advance.
The Eagles were on in penalty kicks, and one Hoya miss proved to be the dagger as Boston College came out with the 5-4 advantage to move on to the Elite 8.
The Hoyas will lose a talented group of seniors which is the winningest class in program history. This season, Georgetown posted a program record 14-game win streak, and is still on an 18-game unbeaten streak. Additionally, the squad won the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship as well as the BIG EAST Championship Title for the first time in program history.
This is the second-consecutive year that the Blue & Gray has been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks at home after a 1-1 tie with the University of Virginia a season ago.
“It’s a tough way to go out as always, and I’m kind of at a loss because I never considered not playing next weekend,” said Wiese. “It’s always going to be a hard game, and you need to execute, but you have a lot of faith in the players we have and so much quality on the field. We have so many great seniors that have been program-defining. It will be odd not to see them on the field next year. My heart goes out to those guys because they put everything into this team, and this season and you would have loved to see them get back to the College Cup.”
