The Georgetown men’s soccer team traveled to Connecticut Saturday, Oct. 12 and took a 1-0 victory over the University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies to move to joint first place, alongside St. John’s, in the East Division of the Big East Conference.
Faced with a strong UConn squad (7-2-4, 2-1-1 Big East), the Hoyas (6-3-4, 3-1-0 Big East) looked to carry their momentum from their most recent Big East Conference outing, where they cruised to a convincing victory against the Providence Friars.
The Hoyas began the game with some nerves, conceding a big chance to the Huskies within the first 10 minutes of the match when their left back whipped a cross into the path of a forward, who glanced a header just wide of the post.
However, this pressure by the Huskies would not last long, with the Hoyas immediately putting their pressure on the Huskies’ defense, amassing a series of shots over the next several minutes. Thankfully, for the Hoyas, this pressure would eventually be rewarded. S
Just as the clock ticked past the 21st minute, senior midfielder Blaine Mabie collected the ball near his own box and pinged an excellent pass forward to begin a blistering counterattack. Junior midfielder Max Viera collected the ball near the sideline and sprinted toward the back line of the Huskies. Sophomore midfielder Matthew Van Horn then sensed an opportunity and made a wonderful run down the left side of the field, where Viera was able to find him, slipping a through ball between the Huskies’ defenders. Van Horn finished the attack with a scorching shot into the bottom right corner of the goal and provided the Hoyas with a lead that they would not relinquish.
Never ones to rest on their laurels, the Hoyas continued to pressure the Huskies in order to ensure that they did not allow them back into the game. Just a few minutes later, Viera shifted the ball to his right foot and attempted to curl one into the top right corner, but was unlucky to glance the crossbar.
In the 33rd minute, a long series of Georgetown passes culminated in yet another shot from just outside the box from Viera, this one on target and forcing the keeper to make a diving save.
While the Hoyas were unable to convert another opportunity, their pressure caused the Huskies to remain on the back foot for the remainder of the 1st half. With the Huskies constantly pulling people back towards their own goal in an attempt to win the ball from the dominant Hoyas, it would be difficult for them to generate their own offense and tie the match.
It was much of the same story in the 2nd half. The Hoyas spent most of their time pushing to get a second goal, while the Huskies fought unsuccessfully against their one-goal deficit.
Unsurprisingly, the Hoyas defense stole the show in this matchup. Including their battle with UConn, the Georgetown defensive line, led by senior defender Maximus Jennings, has conceded just 1 goal in their last 6 matches, and they held UConn to just 3 shots on target throughout the game. Jennings’s strong performance of combining crisp passes with crunching tackles to keep the Huskies’ strikers at bay earned him the honor of Big East defensive player of the week.
Though all of the players looked dominant in the win, the performances of some of the Hoya players certainly stood out. Aside from Jennings, Viera had 3 dangerous shots at the UConn goal and tallied the lone assist of the game. Van Horn was clinical on the attack, scoring what was ultimately the decisive goal.
The Hoyas have seen much success in their conference thus far, and they will look to continue this trend when they return home to Shaw Field for their battle with the Seton Hall Pirates on Saturday, Oct. 19.