Hoya Staff Writer Friday, August 25, 2006 Lindsay Anderson/The Hoya

The last time Georgetown’s men’s soccer team had a new head coach, neither of the current captains was born. For the first time in 22 years, the Hoyas have a new head coach roaming the sidelines. Brian Wiese, who comes to the Hilltop from Notre Dame, was named Georgetown’s new head coach in March after long-time head coach Keith Tabatznik resigned in February. With 10 years of experience at Stanford and Notre Dame, Wiese will bring a different outlook to the Hoyas. And his experience in the NCAA tournament – Wiese’s teams have made nine-straight NCAA tournament appearances – may be the difference between last year’s elimination and this year’s advancement. Wiese’s new system is self-described as “defensively organized.” Building off the strength of senior co-captain Tim Convey in the backfield and senior goalkeeper Andrew Keszler between the pipes, Wiese said his team would “organize itself defensively and then get on the same page on how to attack and break other teams down.” The attacking will be left to seniors Ben Jefferson-Dow and co-captain Ricky Schramm. Jefferson-Dow and Schramm both had seven goals for the Hoyas last year, with Jefferson-Dow taking home the team’s offensive player of the year award. In 2004 Schramm was named the Big East Offensive Player of the Year and is currently tied for sixth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 29 career goals. Both players are dangerous in front of the net, but still need to step up this fall to rev up the Hoyas’ offense that ranked eighth in the Big East. “Everyone is responding very well to [Coach Tabatznik] and buying into his philosophy,” Keszler said. Add the new head coach, a top-30 recruiting class and two well-regarded transfers from Vanderbilt to Georgetown’s 17 returning letter-winners and nine returning starters and the Hoyas have the potential to improve on last year’s 10-9-1 overall record. “We’re excited to get the season started,” Keszler said. “We think we have a lot of potential for this season and we want to get it under way.” The new season begins today when the Hoyas face off with the Colonials of George Washington University in the sixth annual D.C. College Cup – the tournament that brings together the four Division I soccer programs in the area. Georgetown will take also take on host American University on Sunday in hopes of taking home their second-straight Craig Tartasky Trophy. Last year Georgetown won the College Cup tournament with victories over Howard and American universities. The Hoyas defeated the Bison 1-0 in overtime in the opening round then went on to beat the Eagles with another 1-0 shutout to take home their second College Cup title. Jefferson-Dow, Convey and Keszler were all named to the all-tournament team for their play in the two matches. Earlier this week GW was selected to finish sixth in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches’ poll, while AU was picked to finish second in the Patriot League in a vote of that league’s coaches and sports information directors. Georgetown was chosen to finish sixth in the Big East’s Blue Division in the league’s preseason poll released earlier this month. GW has dominated its all-time series versus Georgetown with a 20-9-4 record, but has split its two meetings with the Hoyas in the D.C. College Cup. The Eagles hold a 23-18-2 all-time edge against Georgetown. In the five year history of the D.C. College Cup, American has taken home three titles, with Georgetown snagging the other two. GW has yet to win the tournament title, but did finish as runners-up to the Hoyas last year and to the Eagles in 2001. “We try not to focus too much on what they are doing and try to impose our style of play on the game,” Keszler said of preparing to face GW. “They are a solid team but we want to play our own game.”There are not going to be any secrets when teams come in to play us,” Wiese said of his system, “We are just going to do it better than everybody else in the country.” Wiese also said focus was the Hoyas and not their opponents. “We’re doing the same thing we do every week: focus on ourselves,” he said. “The focus remains on what we do and how we play.” Kickoff for the Hoyas against the Colonials is set for 2:30 p.m. this afternoon at Reeves Field at American University. Georgetown will continue its play on Sunday at 5 p.m. against the Eagles, again at Reeves Field.