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

MEN’S SOCCER | GU to Hold 2nd Annual Charity Game Saturday

The start of the regular season may be five months away, but men’s soccer will be back in action on the Hilltop tomorrow — and the Hoyas will be playing for a cause.

Last year’s Big East Blue Division champions will play a spring game against George Mason on Saturday night at MultiSport Facility to benefit Relay for Life. This marks the program’s second annual holding of a spring charity game; last year’s inaugural event was played in the name of Grassroot Soccer.

“This year the boys really wanted to be able to support Relay for Life,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “And this is our way of doing that.”

The team is scheduled to play its final spring game on Sunday, April 16 – the day after Relay for Life – which will prevent the players and coaches from participating fully in the overnight event on Saturday. But with tomorrow night’s game, the Hoyas hope to do their part to contribute to the cause.

The charity game begins at 7:30 p.m., and admission is free. The team will be holding a raffle during the game for an Apple iPad 2 and other prizes, and raffle tickets will be sold for $10 each at the gate and will include a complimentary burger and drink. For those unable to attend, tickets can be purchased or donations made through any men’s soccer player or in Room E222 at McDonough Arena. Purchasers need not be in attendance Saturday night to win the iPad 2.

“The players have been tabling outside of Leo’s this week and doing all they can to get the word out,” Wiese said. “We’re trying to put on as high-profile an event as we can for a spring game. … We want to build on last year and make it feel like a big fall game.”

At this point in their spring season, the Hoyas are 2-0-1 and have registered wins over Loyola (Md.) and Navy and a tie against William & Mary, all on the road. George Mason and Richmond represent the final two games on the team’s spring schedule, which, as usual, features local opponents.

But one big name missing from Georgetown’s slate of spring exhibitions is rival Maryland, a team Wiese had hoped to meet sometime this month or last.

“We wanted Maryland because we want to play them as much as we can,” he said. “But it didn’t work out. We were trying to finish up our schedule so we committed to the five games we had.”

The Terrapins reached out to the Hoyas late in the scheduling process with their availability, but Georgetown had already filled its spring calendar, which the NCAA limits to five games.

But even with the absence of the Terps from their schedule, the young Blue and Gray are pleased with the level of competition they have faced and will face this spring.

“These are all teams that we don’t see very often,” Wiese said of the Hoyas’ opponents. “We’ve certainly been light on numbers, but we’re getting positive results with a lot of new faces out there.”

The Hoyas lose nine of their 11 seniors from last season’s roster to graduation – defenders Ibu Otegbeye and Ben Slingerland are redshirts and will play again next fall – so turnover has presented a player flow problem for the team this spring as it waits for the Class of 2015 to replenish the system. But midfielder Ian Christianson leads a rising junior class that promises to make it tough on the rest of the Blue Division to dethrone Georgetown next year.

“A lot of the core guys are stepping up and proving that they’re going to be a very strong foundation for us in the future,” Wiese said.

That future moves one day closer tomorrow night under the lights at MultiSport Facility.

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