WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men's soccer squad needed extra minutes to defeat the DePaul University Blue Demons (4-5, 1-1 BIG EAST), 2-1, in overtime in a BIG EAST Conference matchup on Friday afternoon at Shaw Field.  With the win, the Blue & Gray improves to 5-2-1 and 1-1-0 in league play. 
 
"The great thing about today's game for our guys is that they could have easily gotten into a really bad mental place," said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese.  "They continued to play through the overtime until we got the goal.  I thought the first half was a disappointing performance, so we used a ton of guys and everyone who came on did well which was really important for us."
 
The Hoyas controlled possession in the first half with a significant number of corners looking for the first goal.  Midway through the period, GU began to push forward as a low ball from junior forward Achara (Enugu, Nigeria / Berkshire School [Mass.]) went just left, and Blue Demon keeper Drew Nuelle was forced off of his line on the next corner resulting in a DePaul team save.
 
Achara had another shot with 15 minutes remaining that Nuelle stopped with a kick save as the Hoyas continued to pressure the Blue Demon backline. 
 
The goal finally came in the 42nd minute off of a corner kick from junior JB Fischer (Fourqueux, France / Lycee International).  The midfielder served it in and his ball fell to sophomore Rio Hope-Gund in his second-career start.  Hope-Gund fired, and the ball was headed off of the line to junior defender Dylan Nealis (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa).  He shot it back in and the rebound bounced to Hope-Gund who buried it in the back of the net to make it 1-0.
 
That score would stand at the end of the first as the Blue & Gray went into the locker room ahead, 1-0.
 
Georgetown dominated the beginning of the second half as a shot from graduate student Matt Ledder (Falls Church, Va. / Gonzaga) on an open net was just wide and he then found Achara for another look that narrowly missed the post. 
 
The chances did not matter, however, as DePaul found the equalizer in the 54th minute.  The Blue Demons countered resulting in a 3v2 and forced freshman Giannis Nikopolidis (Athens, Greece / Nea Genia Zirdi) to come off of his line.  The first shot was chipped but banged off of the crossbar.  It went to the foot of Zach El-Shafei who finished in the empty net to tie the game at one.
 
Neither team could find the go-ahead goal in the closing minutes as both had opportunities but could not finish.  The squads closed out regulation tied, 1-1.
 
It only took less than five minutes for Georgetown to put the game away in overtime.  After an initial chance, the Blue & Gray found the golden goal in the 95th minute.  Sophomore midfielder Jacob Montes (Lake Worth, Fla. / Beaverton [Ore.]) crossed it to the back post and found the head of Ethan Lochner (New York, N.Y. / Stuyvesant).  The senior headed that ball back across the goal and Achara managed to redirect it past Nuelle to give the Blue & Gray the 2-1 victory.
 
Georgetown outshot the Blue Demons, 29-5, and took 11 corner kicks to DePaul's four.  Nikopolidis was awarded the victory with one save, while Nuelle had 10 saves and the squad combined for 12.
 
The Hoyas will return to action on Tuesday as the squad hosts the Louisville Cardinals at Shaw Field in a nonconference matchup.  A webstream featuring Tom Greaser and Dan Ward as well as live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.  Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.