Luck Sides With Hoyas in Win Over Irish

By Stephen Owens • October 20, 2000

Sometimes it takes more than a dominant performance to win. Sometimes it takes a little luck.

If it hadn’t already, the Georgetown men’s soccer team is quickly learning to appreciate having Lady Luck on its side following consecutive game-winning penalty kick goals resulting from hand balls in the box.

Junior forward Kenny Owens scored his second consecutive game-winner on a penalty kick in the 77th minute against conference rival Notre Dame. Moments later, in the game’s waning minutes, the Hoyas exploited a desperate and discouraged Irish defense and emerged from the contest with a 2-0 win, improving their record to 8-4-1 and, more importantly, 4-3-1 in the Big East.

Head Coach Keith Tabatznik dismissed the notion that luck alone has accounted for the Hoyas’ past two victories.

“Luck comes from a bit of design, too,” Tabatznik said. “It was a good cross that went in and made their defense turn and face their own goal.”

“Those are dangerous balls,” he added. “They’re not designed to get the penalty kick, they’re designed to get a dangerous ball in there.”

It was senior midfielder Khary Robinson who forced the handball with his cross and subsequent penalty kick. Owens took the kick and netted his eighth goal of the season and his third game-winner. Half of Owens’ goals this season have come off of penalty kicks, including all three of his game-winning tallies.

Six minutes later, with the Irish scampering for the tying goal, the Hoyas added an insurance goal when senior captains Kyle Rakow and Peter Bachman combined to score Georgetown’s second goal of the game. Rakow set up the goal with a beautiful pass and Bachman did the rest, scoring for the first time since his freshman year in 1996.

Rakow, playing injured in the second half after being sidelined for the first half, was an exception to an otherwise weak performance by the Hoya midfield.

“We were trying not to play him,” Tabatznik said of Rakow. “But he gave us a real boost up front when he went in.”

On defense, the Hoyas benefited from another stellar performance from freshman goalkeeper Tim Hogan. Hogan’s six saves were enough to give him his second shutout in as many games and his fourth win of the season. Four games into his collegiate career, Hogan remains undefeated.

The win was the Hoyas third in a row and fourth in their last five games. Their recent success leaves the Hoyas optimistic as they travel to Connecticut today to battle the sixth-ranked Huskies.

“It was a huge win,” Bachman said about the Notre Dame win. “It proves we can go on a streak and keep our level high for several games in a row.”

The Hoyas are now in sole possession of fifth place in the Big East with nine points, and a win over fourth-place Connecticut tonight in Storrs will leapfrog them over the Huskies and put them in position to play host to a first-round match in the Big East Tournament next month.

The Huskies kept the Hoyas out of the NCAA tournament last season with a 2-0 win in the championship game of the Big East Tournament.

Tabatznik noted last season’s championship loss as incentive for his team to redeem themselves.

“We’d like to give a little payback.”