Georgetown’s men’s soccer team continued its winning ways on Tuesday with a 2-1 victory over crosstown rival American University (4-7-1). The No. 13 Hoyas are now 7-1-3 (2-0 Big East) on the season and haven’t lost a game since their home opener in August.

“This game [was] always going to be a scary game because it’s in the middle of league play and it’s a non-league, mid-week game,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “We’re not always sure what the mentality of our guys is going to be — if they’re going to come out slow or if they’re going to come out and handle it well, but I think the mentality of our guys was really good.”

Georgetown scored its first goal 17 minutes into play off a header from redshirt senior midfielder Ben Slingerland. Sophomore midfielder Steve Neumann sent the ball into the box on a corner kick, where Slingerland connected to give the Hoyas a 1-0 lead.

The Eagles wasted little time finding the equalizer, however, netting their first goal just 30 seconds later on a left-side breakaway by sophomore midfielder Tyler Collins. It broke freshman goalkeeper Tomas Gomez’s impressive five-game shutout streak.

With just two minutes left before the intermission, Neumann gave the Hoyas a 2-1 lead, scoring on a free kick just outside the box. His shot struck the far post before finding the back of the net for the game-winner.

“I thought we looked really dangerous on set pieces,” Wiese said.

“We scored two goals on them — there was another one that was called back for offsides and one point blanker that we missed. So we could’ve actually put the game away pretty well, but overall I was very pleased with how they responded to playing a non-conference game.”

American tallied eight shots in the second half while Georgetown managed five, but the two teams went scoreless for the remainder of the game.

The Hoyas held a slight advantage in the match in shots at 15-14, although the Eagles recorded nine shots on goal compared to only six for the Hoyas. Georgetown took six corner kicks to American’s two.

Goalkeeper Tomas Gomez had yet another impressive performance in the net, racking up eight saves. The freshman made a crucial stop as the first half wound down to keep the Hoyas ahead going into intermission. Senior goalkeeper Matt Makowski had four saves in net for American.

“It’s going to be a big win for us at the end of the season because American has potential to be one of the top teams in the Patriot League,” Wiese said. “I think we’re now happy to move on and focus on Big East conference play from here on out.”

Georgetown is back in action on Saturday night against West Virginia in its third conference game of the season. The Mountaineers (5-4-1, 1-1 Big East) defeated rival Cincinnati, 1-0,on Saturday.

Until last week, West Virginia had the longest home winning streak in the nation before falling to South Florida, 2-1.

“West Virginia is extremely hard to beat at their place and they’re a very talented and athletic group,” Wiese said.

Freshman forward Andy Bevin leads the Mountaineers with 14 points after scoring his sixth goal of the season against Cincinnati. Bevin is currently tied with Neumann for second in the Big East in goals and is ranked 24th nationally.

Georgetown holds an 11-4 advantage in the series after defeating West Virginia, 1-0, last year on North Kehoe Field. Junior midfielder Ian Christianson gave the Hoyas the win off a penalty kick in the first half.

“We have a couple things we’ll focus on that are specific to West Virginia but at the end of it it’s still going to be a question of are we able to execute our game plan well and make enough plays so that we get result we want,” Wiese said. “We’re going to have to make some good plays on the defensive end and be opportunistic on the attacking front. If we can do that then we have a good chance.”

Kickoff is set for Saturday evening at 7 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium in Morgantown, W. Va.