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

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. Despite drumming the Pirates 4-0 two weeks earlier, the Hoyas fell just short in the rematch. 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 on Yurcak Field at Rugers. Seton Hall may have collapsed before Georgetown only two weeks ago, but both teams held out 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 faceoff, 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 the ball 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.

Whereas 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 ultimately fell to Connecticut in the championship Sunday, losing on penalty kicks in double overtime. For the Huskies, who beat West Virginia in the second semifinal, it was their fifth Big East title.

Georgetown received another heartbreak yesterday afternoon when the NCAA released the College Cup draws. Connecticut, the tournament, clinched the automatic birth. Three Big East teams received first-round byes, grabbing one of the 16 seeds in the 48-team tournament. Notre Dame is the fifth seed, St. John’s is 11th and Boston College sits in the 15th spot. All three teams fell in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament, but stayed in the top 15 courtesy their strong regular-season records. Notre Dame took the regular season title and St. John’s lost in last year’s College Cup final to Indiana.

Seton Hall was the fifth team in the conference to land in the draw and, along with Connecticut, will have to play in the first round. Local rivals George Washington and American will also play in the College Cup, having both won their conference titles.

Although Tabatznik believed his team was tournament-worthy, the NCAA felt otherwise. The Hoyas finished their best season since 1999, including a five game win streak in midseason, but the team will have to wait another year for its third Cup appearance.