In a two-week span, the Georgetown men’s soccer team has sent two players to Major League Soccer this offseason. Co-captain and midfielder Bakie Goodman (MSB ’16) was drafted with the 56th pick in the MLS Super Draft by the Seattle Sounders. Junior midfielder Arun Basuljevic was signed by his hometown team, the New York Red Bulls, to a Homegrown contract this week.
The entrance of these two key Hoya players to MLS continues an impressive trend from last year. In 2016, the Blue and Gray sent seven players to the professional level, including Philadelphia Union defender Keegan Rosenberry, an MLS All-Star starter and New York Red Bulls starting midfielder Alex Muyl.
These departures come after the Blue and Gray’s first losing season in nine years. Georgetown finished seventh in the Big East with a record of 6-9-2 (3-4-2 Big East), narrowly failing to make the Big East tournament and missing the NCAA Tournament.
Goodman finished the season starting all 16 games, taking 19 shots, recording one assist and scoring zero goals. Basuljevic ended his third year with 49 shots, two assists and two goals. According to GUHoyas, Goodman graduated in December with a degree in marketing from the McDonough School of Business.
Standing at 5-foot-9, Goodman has succeeded despite his small stature. Head Coach Brian Wiese believes that the key for Goodman to be successful is for him to fill whatever role that the Sounders need him to fill.
“Bakie was always a little bit of a question mark because he was an undersized player. I think a lot of people look past him because he wasn’t a big, physical, traditional athlete,” Wiese said.
“But his soccer was always the thing that drew him to us as a recruit, meaning he was just very good on the ball, made very good decisions, and I think as he settled into Georgetown, you very quickly realized that the kid is just incredibly hard to dispossess. He’s just a slippery player.”
Wiese believes that his team has had success at the next level by providing them with tough competition outside of Big East play. If the Hoyas continue to schedule games against the best teams in the nation, soccer fans will likely see more Hoyas in MLS in the future.
“We make a conscious effort to make a hard schedule,” Wiese said. “Now, we’re not trying to put a schedule together to make pros, we’re putting a schedule together to get to the NCAA Tournament, and have success in the NCAA Tournament. But the byproduct of that is that you’re playing against good teams.”
Despite the disappointing losing season, Georgetown remains successful in professional development for its players. Goodman and Basuljevic are not the first to make the MLS, and most certainly will not be the last.
