Overtime seems to be the prevailing theme this season for the Georgetown men’s soccer team. On Tuesday the No. 17 Hoyas (5-1-3, 1-0 Big East) drew 0-0 at No. 19 Penn State (5-2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) in the squad’s sixth overtime contest in its first nine games. Despite a number of chances in the first half Georgetown couldn’t put the ball in the net and walked away with the tie.

“I thought we played very well,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “We did everything we could, but we just couldn’t put it in the net on the chances we created. It’s typical when you play two top 20 teams away from home. I don’t think you’re going to be creating hundreds of chances, but we created enough good ones that just didn’t hit the target. We didn’t test the goalie.”

The Blue and Gray came out strong in the first half, controlling the game and managing five shots to the Nittany Lions’ four. None of those five shots were on goal, however, as the Hoyas wasted their offensive opportunities and went into the break scoreless.

When the second half began the Hoyas had another challenge to deal with in addition to the stubborn Nittany Lions’ defense, as rain slowed down the pace of play considerably.

“Overall we carried the play,” Wiese said. “I thought we really ran them in the first 60 minutes and [junior midfielder] Ian Christianson and [sophomore midfielder] Joey Dillon were absolutely tremendous — they ran the game in the center of the midfield.”

Senior defender Ben Slingerland gave Georgetown its first shot on goal off a corner kick from Christianson in the 61st minute, but Penn State freshman goalie Andrew Wolverton made the save.

The visitors wouldn’t muster another shot on goal until the first overtime period, when freshman midfielder Austin Martz was denied by Wolverton. With six seconds remaining in double overtime, sophomore midfielder Steve Neumann — the team’s leading scorer — caught sight of the goal and got the Hoyas’ third and final shot on goal. But Wolverton stopped the shot, preventing the Blue and Gray from grabbing a dramatic win.

Penn State had two shots in the second overtime period, but neither was on goal. The game was fairly balanced as both teams racked up 12 shots over 110 minutes of play.

Georgetown’s success was due largely to a strong defensive effort, as freshman goalkeeper Tomas Gomez was able to earn his fifth shutout of the season without making a single save..

“Our ball movement and our ball speed was as good as it’s been all year,” Wiese said. “Defensively I think it was as close to a complete 90-minute performance as we’ve had so far this year. I think going into a place like Penn State and not allowing a single shot on goal is a real achievement.”

The Tuesday matchup concluded a challenging stretch of play for the Hoyas, who faced three Big Ten opponents on the road and came away with a 1-0-2 record. All three games went into overtime, with the lone win coming against Michigan State thanks to a double-overtime goal from Christianson. The Hoyas also managed a tie and a win against Penn and Princeton, respectively, two of the Ivy League’s top teams.

“The advantage of where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing is the guys are very used to pressure situations,” Wiese said. “Overtime is golden goal, so you play up to 20 minutes of soccer where you have to be perfect and mistake-free. We’ve been in a lot of those situations already now, and I think that’s something we can use late in the season when we’re in post-season scenarios.”

On Saturday, Georgetown will return home to face off against DePaul in its second conference game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on North Kehoe Field.