Lucye Rafferty/The Hoya Freshman defender Daniel Grasso and the Hoyas hope to end a weekend trip to South Orange, N.J., with a winning record.
With the season drawing to a close for the men’s soccer team, standings, points and head-to-head records take on a higher level of importance as the Georgetown jockeys with the 12 other teams in the Big East for the eight spots in the postseason tournament.
While Georgetown currently sits on the fence in the ninth position in the standings with nine points, the fate of a tradition is at stake. Georgetown has appeared in the past 11 consecutive Big East tournaments, a tradition stretching back to 1992, and in a more momentous vein, this year marks 50 years of men’s varsity soccer on the Hilltop.
Still, as the crew practiced drills on North Kehoe Field on a gray and dreary Wednesday, the players’ minds were focused on the upcoming match against Seton Hall rather than on the algorithms of Big East standings or the past half-century of Hoya soccer.
“We’ve just got to make sure we’re organized defensively against the way they play . we’ve got to keep penetrating runs and penetrating passes,” head coach Keith Tabatznik said.
Coming into this Saturday’s game in South Orange, N.J., Georgetown holds a 6-7-2 record for the season and a 3-5-0 record in the Big East. The competition, Seton Hall, has a 6-4-4 total record and a 3-2-3 record in the conference. The Pirates sit in seventh place in the Big East and are ranked No. 15 in the Soccer America poll as well as fourth in the Mid-Atlantic according to this week’s NSCAA Regional Soccer Rankings.
Georgetown has gained momentum from a two-game winning streak over Villanova and Syracuse, their only winning streak after opening strongly in the exhibition and season opener in August. Seton Hall has had an equally inconsistent season. The Pirates are coming off a 1-0 Wednesday night loss to local foe St. Peter’s.
A win this weekend would tie both teams in the standings with 12 points and place Georgetown in the running for the final few tournament slots. A loss would damage the team’s chances and leave it more susceptible to the vagaries of conference play, even though the Georgetown is only partially in control of its fate as it is.
“It doesn’t make sense to me to look at all these things we can’t control. All we can do is get ready for Seton Hall,” Tabatznik said. Win or lose, the team is trying to put its blinders on and make each contest the center of its attention.
Looking back on a tumultuous season for the Hoyas, Tabatznik said he is both frustrated by inconsistency and errors yet satisfied by the progress and flashes of skill the team has shown in its victories, draws and a few close losses. For the time being, the coach says he will let his feelings simmer until the team finishes its season.
“Right now I’m proud of how we’ve battled this last week, for sure,” Tabatznik said.
After facing Seton Hall, Georgetown next plays Navy in Annapolis, Md., for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday night. The Hoyas return to North Kehoe Field a week from Saturday to take on the University of Connecticut during the team’s 50th anniversary weekend in their final Big East showdown. While Connecticut has produced more impressive results through much of the ’90s and is now ranked 22nd in the latest NSCAA polls, the two teams have enjoyed a lively rivalry over the past 15 years. Georgetown holds the slight edge in the series, 8-7-1. But any thought of that remains far from the players’ and coaches’ minds, thrust to the back burner in favor of more pressing issues, according to Tabatznik.
“One of the reasons that we’ve played a bit better recently is by thinking about all the pressure that can come on you by asking the big questions, and just getting them off our shoulders and just playing,” he said.
