BC Knocks GU From Big East

The ninth consecutive trip to the Big East tournament for the Georgetown men’s soccer team was a short one, as they fell to Boston College in the first round. The 2-1 overtime loss to the Eagles marks the end of the 2000 campaign for the Hoyas, who put together their fourth consecutive winning season with a 9-8-1 overall mark.

Playing under poor conditions, including rain and bitter cold, the Eagles drew first blood when sophomore Bobby Thompson headed the ball past Hoya goalkeeper sophomore Brian O’Hagan in the game’s 29th minute off a pass from sophomore Casey Schmidt.

The Hoyas tied the game 14 seconds into the second half when junior forward Kenny Owens converted a pass from freshman forward Tony Soric. Owens led the Hoyas this season with 11 goals and 23 points.

O’Hagan came up with some clutch saves in the waning minutes of regulation to force the game into overtime.

It was the Eagles, however, who dominated the overtime session, until junior Chris Cleary finally ended the game in its 102nd minute.

“We had a couple of ventures into the attacking half,” Head Coach Keith Tabatznik said of the Hoyas’ overtime effort. “But, otherwise, we were on our heels for the entire overtime until the goal.”

Other than the overtime session, however, Tabatznik felt the Hoyas outplayed their opponents and deserved the win.

“During the course of the game, we definitely outplayed them and did what we wanted to do, but we just couldn’t convert it into goals,” Tabatznik said. “In a way, it was a picture of the entire season in one game.”

SOccer, from P. 1S

After advancing to the Big East championship game in each of the past two seasons and qualifying for the NCAA tournament three seasons ago, the Hoyas finish their season with its lowest win total since 1996. This year’s seniors, including captains Jeff Boehling, Kyle Rakow and Peter Bachman, as well as Khary Robinson and Bubba Beyer, were members of the 1997 Hoya squad that played in the NCAAs, and had hoped to end their careers at Georgetown with a second trip.

“We didn’t reach some of our goals that we had set,” said Tabatznik, who has now completed his 17th season at Georgetown. “So that part is certainly disappointing.”

Tabatznik stressed that although the Hoyas fell short of several goals, including a top finish in the Big East standings and a much better showing in the conference tournament, many goals were met.

“We had a winning season and we qualified for the Big East tournament,” Tabatznik said. “Those are two major goals that we have every year.”

Tabatznik also pointed to the Hoyas’ national ranking earlier this season and their regional ranking throughout the season as other positive outcomes of the season.

Although the Hoyas will lose five key players to graduation this spring, they have much reason to remain optimistic considering their top three scorers – Owens, junior Nate Port and freshman Greg Freeburg – all return next season.

Perhaps it will be the 2001 Hoyas who bring the Hoyas back to the NCAAs.