There will be no trip to Red Bull Arena for the Georgetown men’s soccer team.

In the most disappointing loss of their season, the Hoyas (11-6-1) dropped a Big East tournament quarterfinal matchup by a score of 2-1 to the Providence Friars (11-5-2) on Saturday at North Kehoe Field.

Ranked 25th in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll and seeded first in the conference tourney out of the Blue Division, Georgetown was the favorite to defeat unranked Providence for the second time this season to advance to the Big East semifinals at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., on Friday. But the Friars stretched their current unbeaten streak to seven games (4-0-3) and became the first Big East team to take down the Hoyas at home this year.

“I think we’re in a little bit of a state of shock,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “I never even considered that we wouldn’t be doing preparations for going to Red Bull [Arena] this week. It never even crossed my mind.”

The Blue and Gray came out strong early in the first half, fresh off a week-long respite after a 3-0 loss at Notre Dame the previous Sunday. Sophomore defender Jimmy Nealis looked dangerous attacking down the left flank, launching a shot over the bar in the first minute and putting in a couple of threatening crosses in the opening 20 minutes as Georgetown maintained possession in the offensive half for much of the period.

Senior forward and co-captain Jose Colchao had a pair of close-range scoring chances in the half, twice directing headers into the grasp of redshirt senior goalkeeper Jhojan Obando.

“Their goalie made some good saves, but I also think we made him look pretty good,” Wiese said. “We kept hitting him in the hands from awfully close in.”

The teams went into the break scoreless, the Hoyas out-shooting the Friars 6-2 and taking four corner kicks to the visitors’ two.

In the 55th minute, however, Providence took advantage of a miscommunication in the Georgetown backline to go up 1-0. Senior defender Ben Slingerland was caught off guard, unaware that high school friend and Providence junior midfielder Giuseppe Guerriero was streaking in behind him. The Friars’ assists leader, sophomore midfielder Marc Cintron, slipped a through ball by Slingerland and set up Guerriero for a one-on-one chance. Guerriero then slotted the ball past Georgetown senior goalkeeper Matthew Brutto.

“The first goal I take a lot of fault for,” Slingerland said. “[Guerriero] came in off my back shoulder . but at the end of the day, that’s my responsibility.”

The defender made up for his mistake in the 78th minute, however, scoring the equalizer on a header off a free kick from freshman midfielder and team points-leader Steve Neumann. The ball went through a hole in the side netting, temporarily fueling an appeal from Providence that the shot had gone wide, but Georgetown senior midfielder Seth C’deBaca intervened and demonstrated to the referee and the Friars that the hole in the net was indeed large enough for the ball to pass through.

“I knew I owed the team one,” Slingerland said of his first career goal.

Riding the momentum of that tying goal, the Hoyas created a slew of chances over the next few minutes. Sophomore forward Andy Riemer had the best chance of all after shielding off his defender in the box to go one-on-one with Obando, but his shot was aimed straight at the keeper, who parried it over the crossbar.

“We just didn’t finish chances,” Wiese said. “We had a lot of good opportunities, and we just didn’t score.”

The Friars, on the other hand, made use of their three shots on goal. They had only two in the second half including Guerriero’s earlier goal, but Cintron made sure that the second attempt also ended up in the back of the net as he one-touched a through ball from Providence senior midfielder Matt Marcin over a sliding Brutto in the 84th minute to give the visitors a renewed one-goal lead.

“We choked,” Colchao said. “We completely dominated the first half. We did a great job to get the goal back, and then we gave them two chances and they scored them. And we had maybe five very good ones, and we made one. There’s not a whole lot to say, I just feel like we didn’t take advantage of anything.”

Georgetown frantically chased a second equalizer over the final six minutes but to no avail. When the final whistle blew, the Hoyas had outshot their opponents 14-6 but trailed in the one offensive category that matters most.

“I’m sick to death for the boys because I think we played well and were the better team on the day,” Wiese said. “But [Providence] made plays, and you advance when you make plays.”

A win on Saturday would have pushed Georgetown through to the Big East semifinals for the first time in Wiese’s tenure, but after a fifth season on the Hilltop, his teams still have a combined one win in the conference tournament.

With their Big East hopes dashed, the Hoyas now turn their attention to the NCAA tournament. The team came into the quarterfinal ranked 15th in RPI and has likely done more than enough to secure an at-large bid in the national tourney, but after assembling a nine-game winning streak earlier in the season, Georgetown has lost two straight.

“We don’t want to get in a slump right now,” Slingerland said. “I think we need to get our minds right. We need to get refocused. I’m fully confident, and I think the guys are too, that we can make a run in the [NCAA] tournament.”

The tournament selection show is set for next Monday at 4:30 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPNU. The first round of games will be played on Thursday, Nov. 18.