After a pair of gut-wrenching losses, the No. 17 Georgetown men’s soccer team (7-3-4, 2-2-1 Big East) faces one of its toughest challenges of the year — a clash with first-place conference rival Creighton (11-1-2, 4-0-1 Big East). The game will be played under the lights at Creighton’s Morrison Stadium on Saturday night. Head Coach Brian Wiese is wary of the No.2 Bluejays’ threat.

“Creighton is a legitimate top team,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “They are as good as anybody in the country, so our challenge is whether we can find a way to get a result.”

After entering the year as one of the top-ranked teams in the country, Georgetown has faltered of late. Losses to No. 23 Providence (8-2-2, 3-0-2 Big East) and Seton Hall (4-6-3, 1-3-1 Big East) have caused the Hoyas’ ranking in the national coaches poll to plummet from three to 17.

Prior to the losses, Georgetown had lost just twice in its previous 16 games.

“It’s the Big East,” Wiese said. “It doesn’t matter who you are playing in the league, it doesn’t matter if you play home or away — they are all really good games. That’s the fun of the league.”

While the loss to the Friars was a bit disappointing, the loss to the lowly Pirates must have come as a bit of a shock to the Hoyas.

Prior to their meeting, Seton Hall was winless in Big East play. Their victory over the Hoyas marked the highest ranked opponent to fall to the Pirates in over two years. In both games, Georgetown struggled to produce goals, losing by final scores of 2-0 to Providence and 1-0 to Seton Hall. To have a shot at winning, Georgetown must find the spark to reignite its offense.

“Creighton’s a really well organized team — very athletic and will possess the ball,” Wiese said.

“We won’t generate quite as many good chances, so we have to be opportunistic with the ones we get. … We’ll have to be resourceful, we’ll have to be opportunistic, we’ll have to be tight as a group and we’re going to have to have some guys make some plays.”

While the Hoyas retain an impressive 4-1-1 road record, playing at Morrison Stadium presents a steep challenge. Constructed in 2003, the impressive facility features grandstands, upper-level suits, press boxes and a video scoreboard. Its maximum capacity is 6,000, nearly four times the size of Shaw Field on the Hilltop. Wiese likened Morrison to a “mini EPL [English Premier League] stadium,” and said that it offers Creighton an “unbelievable home-field advantage and a great environment.”

However, even coming off consecutive losses, the Hoyas do not lack confidence.

“We think that if we get our team right, we’re capable of beating anyone in the country on a given day,” Wiese said. “We’ve been spending a lot of time this week just trying to get the guys back to the basics on a couple of things, and trying to remember what it is that we do really well, and make sure that we are doing those things really well. It continues to be just as much about us as it is about Creighton.”

Though they have struggled of late, Georgetown remains one of the deepest and most talented teams in the country. Even during their recent skid, the Hoyas have remained a stout defensive club. Anchored by recent Big East Defensive Player of the Week and junior co-captain Keegan Rosenberry, along with senior co-captain Tomas Gomez, the Hoyas’ defense has surrendered a mere 0.64 goals per game.

“We value the shutout,” Wiese said. “It’s really good to make [it] hard for teams to generate against us. We are very good if all 11 players are really dialed-in to what’s needed and are playing as a group and playing together.”

The Hoyas defense has been able to force seven shutouts this season, but ability to do that for 90 minutes is very tricky.

“If one piece of that group isn’t on the same page or isn’t focused on the job, then we go from becoming a very powerful team to a very vulnerable team. … A lot of it is just saying ‘let’s be ready, for 90 minutes, to be really good,’” Weise said.

Georgetown and Creighton will kick off tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Omaha, Neb.