Senior midfielder and co-captain Tyler Rudy played all 90 minutes on his Senior Day on Saturday.
The No. 13 Georgetown men’s soccer team (10-3-4, 5-2-1 Big East) used a goal late in the first half to win again Saturday afternoon at Shaw Field, downing the St. John’s Red Storm (4-9-4, 1-6-1 Big East) by a final score of 1-0. The game was the final regular-season home match for the Hoyas’ five seniors, who were honored in a pregame ceremony.
Georgetown looked like the better team throughout the match, consistently generating more, higher-quality chances. While both goalkeepers made two saves, senior goalkeeper and co-captain Tomas Gomez’s saves were routine, and the Red Storm’s six other shots in the match never seemed threatening.
Officials stopped the match in the 10th minute for a significant period of time in order to attend to St. John’s freshman midfielder Anthony Viteri. He fell to the ground after getting hit in the head with an elbow while challenging a ball in the air and had to be carted off of the field by medical staff.
The away team’s best opportunities came from a series of three free kicks from the 53rd to 66th minutes, culminating in a shot on goal blocked by senior midfielder and co-captain Tyler Rudy after the third set piece ricocheted dangerously inside the 18-yard box.
“One thing that is nice about this team is that one goal seems to be enough. Our defense has really shored up. [Gomez] is playing the best soccer of his career right now,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said.
The Hoyas offense, on the other hand, created a majority of its chances from wide positions. A large variety of players had scoring opportunities, courtesy of crosses toward forwards in front of goal and trailing midfielders, one of whom scored the go-ahead goal. Senior defender and midfielder Jared Rist took the ball to the end line to the left of goal before crossing to sophomore midfielder Bakie Goodman, whose volley to the right side of goal found the back of the net and put his team ahead in the 41st minute.
“[My form] is good, it keeps improving as we go along, which is what you want in the season. I think it is getting better, and the whole team is getting better,” Goodman said.
Wiese has tried a number of different combinations of wide midfielders this season, continuing this experiment Saturday. Four players featured in the position, including Rist, whose natural position is a defender, and sophomore forward Alex Muyl, who returned to the wing after switching to forward at the beginning of the season. Wiese identified an advantage in having a large number of players who can slot into that midfield role.
Sophomore midfielder Bakie Goodman scored the game-winning goal in the 41st minute.
“One of the great things about this team is that you are starting to see steady contributions from a lot of different guys, and you feel good about a lot of different guys,” Wiese said. “These guys are playing at a level in training every day where they just give you different things, and you have a lot of trust that they can do that for you.”
Wiese and Athletic Director Lou Reed honored five seniors before the game: Rist, Gomez, Rudy, midfielder Tom Skelly and midfielder Austin Martz. This group of seniors has had the most victories in program history and has appeared in the Big East tournament three times, the NCAA tournament twice and both the conference and national championship games.
“[The seniors] have helped me a ton. We are around them every single day, and they are some of our best friends. This is really special to give them a win going out,” Goodman said.
Wiese has coached these seniors for their entire careers and hopes to get a few more key performances out of the Class of 2015.
“It is just great to see them capping off their careers in a way that is befitting of the quality of them as characters and as players,” Wiese said. “It is so fitting that Rist is involved in that goal. … It is a fun ride and hopefully we can extend it for as long as possible.”
The victory extended the team’s current win streak to three games, the second-longest streak of the season. This current run has included three conference wins and helped the Hoyas clinch a spot in the Big East tournament. Two of the three wins were over opponents ranked in the top 10 in the country.
While the conference championship is out of reach, obtaining the second seed in the tournament is possible if Georgetown can defeat Villanova (8-6-3, 3-3-2 Big East) on Friday, Nov. 7, in Philadelphia and receive help from around the conference.
The Hoyas currently sit fourth in the league, but they are just one point behind second-place No. 11 Providence (10-3-2, 5-1-2 Big East). Earning the second spot would give Georgetown a first-round bye in the Big East tournament and an automatic place in the semifinals, which will also be held in Philadelphia on Friday, Nov. 14.
