WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's soccer team made history on Sunday winning the first back-to-back BIG EAST Championships in program history with a 2-0 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles Sunday at Shaw Field.  Georgetown is now the only school in BIG EAST soccer history where its men's and women's teams have won back-to-back championships.  The win gives the Hoyas their second tournament title and ninth NCAA Tournament berth in program history.
 
"It always comes down to the old guys, our leaders have done a great job this year," said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese.  "Our back four has really come into their own over the run of the season.  Credit to Marquette, I don't think we played our best game today but the back line did a really good job making sure that wasn't an issue." 
 
The Golden Eagles came out firing with three quick shots.  As soon as the ball moved to the other end of the pitch, the Hoyas were awarded a corner kick.  Senior captain Kyle Zajec (Westport, Conn. / Staples) sent in a perfect ball and found the head of fellow senior captain Brendan McDonough (Matthews, N.C. / Charlotte Catholic) who went to the left corner and out of the reach of MU keeper Luis Barraza to make it 1-0 and notching McDonough's first goal of the season.
 
The Hoyas kept pressing searching for the second goal, but it would not come in the first half as every challenge was stopped by Barraza.  Georgetown went into the break leading 1-0.
 
The second half started much like the first as Marquette pressured first.  For the second time in the game, a defensive stop was a near own goal and McDonough also managed a stop off of the line.  The ball went down the field and it was Georgetown on the offensive as the Hoyas whipped in balls searching for another goal.
 
The second goal came in the 70th minute.  A pass from Montes made it through traffic to junior Riley Strassner (Avon, Conn. / Avon).  He sent it to junior forward Achara (Enugu, Nigeria / Berkshire School [Mass.]) on his left who took a touch and fired to make it 2-0 and give the Hoyas some breathing room.
 
As the minutes ticked away, the Hoyas managed to take it to the corner and hold the ball to secure the BIG EAST Championship.
 
Georgetown was outshot 10-9 and took six corner kicks while the Golden Eagles were awarded eight.  In goal, freshman Giannis Nikopolidis (Athens, Greece / Nea Genia Zirdi) took the shutout and the victory with two saves while the team totaled three.  Barraza took the loss with two saves on the afternoon.
 
"Today wasn't our best performance, but we are in good form," said Wiese.  "We feel pretty good about where we are, we have a lot of guys stepping up.  We're excited to win this championship, but still have a lot to play for going forward."
 
To add to the accomplishments, the victory marked Wiese's 150 victory on the Hilltop.  He is the second-most winning coach in program history and has a record of 150-78-32.
 
McDonough was named the BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Defensive Player and earned a spot on the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team.  Joining him were Zajec, Achara and the Most Outstanding Offensive Player Ethan Lochner (New York, N.Y. / Stuyvesant) who had two goals in the 4-0 semifinal victory over Providence.
 
The Hoyas now await their NCAA Tournament fate as the league's automatic bid gives GU its ninth NCAA bid in program history and seventh under Wiese.  The Hoyas have appeared in six of the last seven tournaments.  The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast live on NCAA.com.