Not even a two-goal comeback could save the No. 25 Georgetown men’s soccer team from having to endure the end of its eight-game home undefeated streak Saturday.
Playing host to the undefeated Providence Friars (4-0-5, 2-0-3 Big East), the Hoyas (7-3-0, 3-2-0) rallied from a 2-0 deficit, but it was Providence that found the gamewinner in the 77th minute to take the 3-2 victory on North Kehoe Field.
Providence wasted little time getting on the board. Less than five minutes into the contest, freshman forward Tim Ritter put the Friars up 1-0 when he received a pass from senior forward Eoin Lynch and beat Georgetown junior keeper Andrew Keszler with a tough shot from eight yards out for his third goal of the year.
“It was a little bit of a shock,” Georgetown Head Coach Keith Tabatznik said of the first goal, “but I thought we regrouped well and we were just unlucky in front of the goal.”
After the early score the Hoyas locked it down, and the Friars could not net another goal in the half, despite numerous strong scoring chances.
The Hoyas could not capitalize either, however. Georgetown had eight shots and four corner kicks in the half, but the team could not find the back of the net. The Hoyas had their best chance in the 29th minute when junior defender Tim Convey came up with a loose ball in the box, but his shot went off the bottom of the crossbar and ricocheted out of the goal.
In the second half the Friars again came out firing, and this time it too less than three minutes for the Friars to score. On a breakaway following a miscue by the Georgetown defense, Lynch put the Friars up 2-0 with a shot from inside the penalty box that a diving Keszler could not reach.
The two-goal deficit forced the Hoyas to be more aggressive and, in the 57th minute, it paid off. Keszler made a huge save for the Hoyas in a one-on-one situation and, on the ensuing counterattack, Georgetown junior midfielder Daniel Grasso collected a ball at the top of the 18-yard box and drilled a shot past Providence junior goalkeeper Chris Konopka to cut the lead in half.
Just two minutes later the Hoyas evened the game at 2-2 when senior captain and defender Jeff Curtin headed in a corner kick from fellow senior captain and midfielder Brent Plumley.
In a scene that was eerily reminiscent of an earlier game against American, Providence senior defender Zach Tobin went down with a neck injury late in the match and did not immediately get up. He was able to get up and walk off the field on his own after a few minutes, but he did not return to the game, and after the match he was taken to the hospital to be examined.
The Friars have five ties this season and, with 15 minutes left in the game, it looked like this would be their sixth. Ritter had other ideas, however, and with under 13 minutes left in regulation he dribbled the ball all the way to Georgetown’s endline and made a short pass to Lynch in front of the goal, who took an easy shot for his second score of the game.
Lynch’s goal put the Friars up 3-2, a lead they would hold for the closing minutes to give them their fourth win on the year.
“They finished their chances better than us today,” Curtin said. “This was a game we had to win.”
Tabatznik was not pleased with the result either.
“We should have scored three or four goals,” he said. “This was the first time I felt we were the better team and we did not win.”
The victory puts Providence in first place in the Big East blue division and bumps Georgetown down to second.
“Any Big East win is a massive, massive win,” Providence Head Coach Chaka Daley said. “[Ritter and Lynch] were able to cause the defenders some problems, especially as the game got longer because they were chasing . [and] we were just lucky to get goals at the right times.”
After four straight home games, the Hoyas will hit the road for their next two contests. Tomorrow Georgetown will travel to Seton Hall (6-2-1, 2-2-1), followed by a game at West Virginia (6-4-1, 2-2-1) on Saturday, both of which are Big East conference matches.
Kickoff tomorrow is set for 3 p.m. in South Orange, N.J.
