Oct. 8, 2008
Box Score
Washington, D.C. - The No. RV/25 Georgetown University men's soccer team (7-2-2, 2-2-2 BIG EAST) was unable to connect on all but one of the squad's 22 shots, settling for a tie with the Seton Hall Pirates (6-5-1, 2-3-1 BIG EAST) Wednesday afternoon at North Kehoe Field. The Hoyas controlled the offensive play and took 13 corner kicks but couldn't find the back of the net resulting in the 1-1 draw.
The Pirates came in with one of the most dangerous offensive players in the conference and capitalized on their first opportunity scoring just seven minutes in. Seton Hall took a shot which was saved by GU keeper Mark Wilbur (Tijeras, N.M./Albuquerque Acad.), but the rebound was not controlled by the Hoya defense as Dritan Sela returned it into the net to make the score 1-0.
The Hoyas, who had not played since September 28, managed to shake off the malaise that had set in with so many days of rest and immediately went on the offensive after the goal. For the reminder of the first half, GU was threatening but after eight shots and as many corners, the Hoyas could not connect.
Georgetown looked even stronger in the second half, rarely allowing the ball on its own end of the field. In the 55th minute, Corey Zeller (Toms River, N.J./Toms River) hit the equalizer off of a free kick at the top of the box to make the score 1-1. The game became rough as both teams were playing for the go-ahead goal and despite a solid offensive effort, neither could find it resulting in extra minutes.
Late in the first overtime, it looked as though the game would end as Robert Burnett (Plano, Texas/Plano West) hit a back-footed shot into the net but the Pirate keeper made a near-impossible save to stop it. Seton Hall, in turn, came down on a 3-1 attack with just a minute to go and went directly at Wilbur who made a game-saving stop.
With both squads wearing out, neither had many opportunities in the second overtime and after 110 minutes of play the contest ended in a draw.
"The guys pressed awfully hard, it was one-way traffic," said Head Coach Brian Wiese. "For about 70 minutes we were going but I think we just got tired...It certainly wasn't for a lack of trying, we could have been up 3-0 in the beginning but we didn't take chances."
The Hoyas had a major offensive advantage with 22 shots to Seton Hall's 14 and 13 corners while the Pirates took just three. Wilbur had four saves in the net for Georgetown.
GU will host another BIG EAST game on Saturday against No. 13/11 UConn. The game is scheduled for noon at North Kehoe Field. Live stats and a video stream will be available at www.guhoyas.com. Fans are encouraged to attend the men's soccer game at noon and buy a $10 ticket that will also be admission for Saturday's 2 p.m., Homecoming football game against the University of Pennsylvania.
