Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

GU’s Season Ends in Shootout

The parallels made for a story that was too good to be true. One weekend after their female counterparts defeated No. 4 Maryland on penalty kicks in the second round of the NCAA tournament at the Terrapins’ home field to advance to the Sweet 16, the men’s soccer team (12-7-1) was in position to do the same against another No. 4-ranked ACC powerhouse on Sunday night.

But in a season during which Georgetown’s soccer teams have been mirror images of each other’s successes and failures, Sunday was the end of the line for the men’s team. After holding North Carolina to a scoreless draw for 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, the Hoyas fell 5-4 on penalty kicks at Fetzer Field.

“The first thoughts always go to the guys whose careers are over, and we have a lot ofthem,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said at the postgame press conference. Georgetown’s players were unavailable for comment. “They know they played hard, they played well, and they left everything out on the field. I don’t have any complaints about the performance from the boys.”

The Hoyas and Tar Heels traded well-taken penalties for the first two rounds of the shootout before Georgetown senior midfielder Seth C’deBaca stepped up to take the first kick of the third round. He paused in the middle of his run-up to the ball and then went right, but sophomore goalkeeper Scott Goodwin went that way, too.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a shootout that’s been won with everybody making a penalty kick,” Wiese said. “[Seth]’s taking it very hard.”

Both teams had chances to win the game in the run of play, combining for 32 shots and 12 shots on goal. North Carolina, however, dominated the first half, controlling the ball in tentative Georgetown’s half for nearly the entirety of the period. The Tar Heels outshot the Hoyas 8-2 in the opening frame and looked like the only side with a chance of scoring for those 45 minutes.

“The first half they could have played without a goalie,” Wiese said of the hosts. “They pressed us really hard. . It looked like we had never played soccer before.”

But the Blue and Gray came out of halftime with an attacking confidence that had been absent all night. Finding space deep along the sidelines, the visitors’ outside players whipped several dangerous crosses into the UNC box throughout the second half.

“From halftime on I thought we got into the game well,” Wiese said. “We took off our rain jackets and started to play a little bit.”

Perhaps the best chance in regulation for either team came in the 52nd minute when senior defender Ben Slingerland’s dipping header was just barely pushed over the crossbar by Goodwin.

Despite that and several other opportunities on both ends, though, the game went into overtime scoreless.

“We wanted to do a little bit more damage in terms of creating more,” North Carolina Head Coach Elmar Bolowich said. “But nevertheless, I have to give credit to Georgetown. They defended extremely well. They defended as a team, they were tight. They made it very difficult for us.”

In the first overtime period, fans on both sides thought their teams had won it in the 98th minute. UNC sophomore midfielder Alex Walters hit the crossbar from long range, and then Georgetown sophomore midfielder Ian Christianson’s shot less than a minute later rippled the opposite net, but landed on top of its roof.

After a marginally less exciting second overtime, Wiese and Bolowich chose their five penalty takers – and in Wiese’s case, a new goalkeeper.

“It was tough because [senior goalkeeper Matthew Brutto] had a great game tonight. He did everything we asked him to do,” Wiese said. “But we made the decision long ago that [senior goalkeeper Mark Wilber] would be our guy if it went to penalty kicks.”

But Wilber was unable to stop a single North Carolina penalty. He guessed correctly on the first two takes, but even the 6-foot-4 keeper’s enormous wingspan wasn’t enough to get to any of the Tar Heels’ kicks.

Then C’deBaca missed his attempt, and the Tar Heels didn’t look back. Walters scored his penalty in the fifth and final round to put North Carolina through to a Sweet 16 matchup with Michigan State, igniting a joyous celebration on one end of the pitch and a quiet blankness on the other.

“We had five guys who wanted to be in that situation. Those guys had the cajones to stand up there,” Wiese said of his five shooters. “And that’s what sport is. Sport is putting yourself in the opportunity to really succeed. . But there’s also consequences for putting yourself in that situation. You have to be able to handle those consequences.”

The Hoyas enjoyed their most successful season under Wiese this fall but lost three of their last four games after reeling off nine straight wins earlier in the year. The Big East Blue Division champions – composed in part by 11 seniors – likely hoped for more from their trips to the Big East and NCAA tournaments than one combined win, but their historic regular season set a new target for future Georgetown teams to aspire to.

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