PISCATAWAY, N.J. – It was dark, cold and very, very wet. But the worst part was the loss.

While the men’s soccer season began in late summer sunshine, it ended on a frosty note with a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 18 Seton Hall in the Big East semifinals. Only the brave and the drunk withstood the soggy, near-freezing conditions to watch the Hoyas and the Pirates in a tense rematch that would take one team a step closer to the Big East championship on Friday night.

After 97 minutes of play, Georgetown (11-8-2, 5-5-2) discovered that they were not destined for a fourth conference title game, falling just short. Sophomore midfielder Sasha Kljestan was the man of the evening for Seton Hall (12-6-2, 6-3-3), driving past his defender and squaring up to find the back corner of the goal after seven minutes of overtime play.

“We knew going into overtime that it was going to take an individual effort, and he got it. He got time and space and just put it in the corner,” junior defender Jeff Curtin said.

Despite weather conditions that left the field saturated in a steady rain, both teams managed to turn in respectable performances. Seton Hall may have collapsed before Georgetown only two weeks ago, but both teams held out in this time for an evenly-matched battle.

“Obviously with the ball skipping around it made it more challenging for both teams to get into any sort of rhythm,” Head Coach Keith Tabatznik said. “There was quite a fair bit of good soccer despite that.”

The regular season matchup started off slowly, with neither side scoring in the first half. That trend repeated itself on Friday with another blank opening 45 minutes. Although both teams have developed a reputation in the conference as strong scorers, they struggled to come up with solid chances on the water-logged pitch.

While Georgetown dictated play in the first meeting, Seton Hall held the edge in the rematch and sent its opponents back on defense. The Pirates had the best chances of the half, including a shot that was only stopped by perfectly-placed sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Keszler, and ended with an edge on shots, 9-5. Seton Hall also led with four shots on goal, whereas Georgetown could only muster two weak attempts.

“Compete for every ball, compete for every play, try to compete. That’s all we tried to do the whole game,” Kljestan said about his team’s game plan.

In the October face-off, Georgetown broke away in the early second half and never looked back. This time the Hoyas tried to see if the formula would hold, but the Pirates had the first chance of the half. The Georgetown offense, however, could not jumpstart itself as it had in late October to put it in the net. Sophomore forward Ricky Schramm, named the Big East Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday night, did not even have a shot until the 87th minute.

While Seton Hall controlled the pace throughout the first half, Georgetown kept Seton Hall on the defensive for much of the second half. The Hoyas outshot their opponents and kept the game exciting with some late game opportunities, but they could not avoid their third consecutive overtime decision.

The Pirates received most of the opportunities in overtime, and eventually connected for the game winner.

“It’s magic. The kid is a magic man and he scored a magic goal,” Seton Hall Head Coach Manfred Schellscheidt said. “We couldn’t be happier.”

Seton Hall will return to Yurcack Field at Rutgers on Sunday for its latest attempt for a fifth Big East championship. They last played in the final in 2000. They are also the first eighth-seeded team to advance to the finals in tournament history.

In the earlier game, Connecticut topped West Virginia after scoring in the fifth minute and holding onto its 1-0 margin for the rest of the game. Connecticut returns to the finals after a brief hiatus. They last won the tournament in 1999.

Georgetown can now return to campus and wait for the College Cup selections to be announced. Winning the conference tournament would have given the Hoyas an automatic bid, but now they must wait to see if their name shows up in the draw. Last year, seven teams went to the NCAA tournament from the Big East.

“There’s no question in my mind that we’re a tournament team. Whether we get in, that’s a different story,” Tabatznik said. “I think the Big East is the toughest conference in the country to play in, day-in and day-out and I think the Big East deserved six or seven teams in this tournament.”