A week after its second win of the season against Providence College (4-3, 0-1 Big East), the Georgetown men’s soccer team (2-5, 1-0 Big East) will face its Big East Rival in its Homecoming day matchup with the Xavier Musketeers (3-2-2, 1-0 Big East).

In the first Big East game against Providence, sophomore goalkeeper J.T. Marcinkowski recorded his second clean sheet of the season to give the Blue and Gray a narrow 1-0 victory. Senior forward and co-captain Brett Campbell was the hero of the night, scoring the game-winning goal in the 54th minute of the game.

His poaching goal came off of a free kick from junior midfielder Christopher Lema. Lema delivered a low free kick that barely got past the ball, and Campbell was right in front of the goal alone to chip it over the goalie and in the end give Georgetown the win.

“That game against Providence, any team that we would’ve had that we would’ve taken to that environment, we would’ve been really happy with a 1-0 win,” Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “Providence is one of the better teams in the league, really hard to play against, really tough, really well-coached, really well-organized.”

The defense has not been much of a concern for the team because it has allowed just two goals in its last four games. However, the offense’s production continues to be limited. It has scored just two goals in its last four games. However, for Coach Wiese, the offense’s production is less of a concern than is finding a way to just win every individual game.

“We’re not really talking to guys about scoring more goals right now, we’re talking about handling details to win games,” Coach Wiese said. “In a lot of the games the opponents we play are really quality, so a 1-0 win is going to be very realistic in a lot of these games. We were really pleased with getting that in the Providence game.”

Furthermore, Xavier will not be an easy matchup for Georgetown on Saturday. Last season, the Hoyas barely got past the Musketeers in Cincinnati in a 1-0 overtime victory. They also defeated them 1-0 in the Big East tournament. However, this season Xavier, coming off of a 1-0 victory over DePaul, has a much better record than Georgetown.

“They’re a team that prides themselves on not giving up anything easily, and they have very blue-collar and a very athletic group,” Coach Wiese said. “So it’s a real test to how to find a win against a really good team. It’s a team that I think is likely to win the league as much as any team in the conference by a long shot.”

In a competitive conference like the Big East, that is high praise for any team. Xavier also boasts the Big East Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in junior defender Cory Brown, who was also the College Soccer News Preseason All-America Second Team. Additionally, Xavier freshman forward Derrick Otim leads the team with three goals.

For Georgetown, this game represents a huge test for how the rest of this season will go. Coming off an important win, with the confidence level higher than it has been, and a Xavier team that is a contender to win the Big East on Homecoming, this is an important match for the team to win.

“It’s just a matter of executing and continuing to get good results to hit your stride going into the middle of the season and the beginning of the Big East,” Coach Wiese said. “It’s a good time to start feeling good about where you are individually and where you are collectively, so I think the guys are in that place right now.”

Saturday’s Homecoming game will kick off at 1 p.m. on Shaw Field.