Washington, D.C. - Sophomore Richard Frank (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Chaparral) tallied his first goal of the season in the 105th minute, an unassisted tally, to give the Georgetown University men's soccer team a 1-0 double-overtime victory today over unbeaten Syracuse in the first BIG EAST Conference game for both schools. Georgetown improves to 2-3-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the conference while the Orange fall to 3-1-0 and 0-1-0 in the league.
Frank gathered a loose ball in the Orange end of the field and let loose a shot from 24 yards out to beat the Syracuse goalkeeper, Robert Cavicchia, to the lower left corner.
"We want to thank the Georgetown crowd that supported us today," said Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese after today's contest. "They really helped raise our team's intensity level. I'm proud of how our guys competed today. Despite the fact that we had a bunch of guys cramp up, we had other guys come off the bench and we didn't miss a beat, which is a testament to our overall depth."
Georgetown junior goalie Joe Devine (Exton, Pa./The Haverford School) made two saves in his first career conference start to collect his second career shutout.
Syracuse came into the game tied for second in the BIG EAST with eight goals but the Hoya defense held SU to just two shots on goal.
In the first minute, Georgetown had a golden opportunity off the game's first corner kick. Sophomore Corey Zeller (Toms River, N.J./Toms River) lofted a ball to the far post, where the a bouncing ball ricocheted right to the feet of junior Mike Glaccum (Philadelphia, Pa./Penn Charter) who ripped a blast from 15-yards out that was blocked by a Syracuse player in traffic along the goal line.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the Hoyas had another strong opportunity as sophomore Conor Neusel (Chesterfield, Mo./Vanderbilt) ripped a shot from 16 yards out that Cavicchia had to tip over the crossbar. Neusel also had another golden chance in the 79th minute. With the Syracuse goalie off his line, on a cross to the left post, Neusel hit a low shot, but standing on the goal line, Syracuse's Brad Peetoom blocked the shot with his shin guard.
After being outshot 7-5 in the first half, the Hoyas outshot their opponent 16-6 for the remainder of the contest.
Georgetown returns to North Kehoe Field on Sunday at 1 p.m., hosting BIG EAST rival St. John's. The game can be seen and heard on HoyaVision through GUHoyas.com.
