WASHINGTON – The 13th-seeded Georgetown University men's soccer squad will host the West Virginia University Mountaineers on Sunday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Shaw Field at 2 p.m. The Hoyas are 12-4-3 on the season and earned a bye in the first round of the tournament. The Mountaineers defeated LIU Brooklyn 4-2 on Thursday night to advance and enter the game with a mark of 14-6.
Georgetown's NCAA Tournament berth is the seventh under Head Coach
Brian Wiese who managed his 150th career victory on Sunday. The Hoyas have been to the tournament on eight previous occasions with five trips to the Round of 16 (2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 1997) and two to the quarterfinals (2014, 2012). It marks GU's seventh tournament berth in the past nine seasons and ninth overall.
In 2012, the squad was the national runner up, falling to Indiana 1-0 in the national championship game. Prior to that season, the program had never moved beyond the second round of the tournament with previous appearances in 2010, 1997 and 1994. The Hoyas are 8-5-5 overall in the NCAA Tournament.
The squad 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 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 gave the Hoyas their third tournament title for the program.
The Blue & Gray has been in and out of the national polls all season. Last week, the team was No. 12 in the United Soccer Coaches' Poll and Georgetown moved to No. 15 in TopDrawerSoccer.com's poll on Monday.
The Hoyas have received a number of accolades this season with the squad earning one of the BIG EAST's top awards.
Junior defender
Dylan Nealis (Massapequa, N.Y. / Massapequa) was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year as seven different Hoyas earned BIG EAST season honors. Nealis joined sophomore forward
Derek Dodson (Aurora, Ill. / Waubonsie Valley) and junior forward
Achara (Enugu, Nigeria / Berkshire School [Mass.]) on the first team, while senior captains
Brendan McDonough (Matthews, N.C. / Charlotte Catholic) and
Kyle Zajec (Westport, Conn. / Staples) were each named to the second team. Goalkeeper
Giannis Nikopolidis (Athens, Greece / Nea Genia Zirdi) joined classmate
Sean Zawadzki (Olmsted Falls, Ohio / Olmsted Falls) on the BIG EAST All-Freshman team.
The Mountaineers fell to Akron 3-1 in the MAC Championship Semifinal. The squad ranked No. 18 in the final coaches' poll as well as No. 18 by TopDrawerSoccer.com and No. 21 in the final RPI. Georgetown is 13-6 all-time against WVU with the last meeting coming during the 2016 season where the Hoyas fell 1-0 in a neutral site contest in Akron, Ohio giving up the game winner in the 81st minute. GU is 8-1 at home and the squads have never met in the postseason. The teams have split the last four matchups.
Live stats and a free webcast featuring Dan Helfrich and Tom Greaser will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.
