After a win over Villanova on Friday, Georgetown won their second Big East regular season championship in as many years, a feat that seemed out of reach when the day began. The Hoyas (13-4-1, 6-2-1 Big East) took care of business on Shaw Field, defeating the Wildcats (8-9-1, 3-6-0 Big East), 1-0, but still needed help from a pair of the weaker teams in the Big East to improve their conference standing. That help arrived, delivering a fourth Big East regular season title to the Hilltop.

No. 8 Georgetown began Friday in third place in the conference, needing upset wins by DePaul, a team winless in the Big East at that point, and Butler, which was fighting for the final Big East tournament spot. The underdogs came through, with DePaul downing No. 10 Marquette and Butler defeating No. 22 Xavier on Friday night. Those results allowed the Hoyas to jump into a first-place tie with Marquette and beat the Golden Eagles on a tiebreaker. The team also earned a bye in the first round of the Big East tournament.

“It’s definitely a help both academically and physically because a lot of people can take a rest,” junior goalkeeper Tomas Gomez said. “Not having to worry about another game or skipping classes [is good].”

Villanova took a much different view into the game Friday, seeing it as a must-win to keep its season alive rather than as a chance to earn a title. Both sets of players were aware of the Wildcats’ dire situation, and according to senior midfielder Joey Dillon, this made earning a result much more difficult.

“Coach Wiese always talks to us about how difficult it is to end someone’s season. They were playing for their Big East lives,” Dillon said.

The two teams matched shots early in the game, but the Hoyas found the back of the net first. Sophomore midfielder Josh Turnley received the ball on the left side and crossed it to the middle, where sophomore forward Brandon Allen was waiting. Allen buried the opportunity in the 22nd minute for his team-leading 11th goal of the season. Georgetown outshot its opponent 3-0 in the remaining 23 minutes of the half, but the score would not change.

The Wildcats’ urgency began toshow in the second half as the team pressed to find an equalizer. TheHoyas could not manage a shot until the 67th minute, while the visitors seemed to have the lion’s share of opportunities at the start of the half. Villanova had its best opportunity of the day in the 85thminute, when Gomez had to leave his feet and dive to his left in order to block a hard shot. The Hoyasrecorded more shots and more shots on goal than their opponent in the second half, but the team could not find a second goal to secure its lead. It would not matter, however, as the defense held the Wildcats scoreless and extended its team record to 12 shutouts this year.

“We knew it would be tough in the second half,” Gomez said. “The first half went by kind of slow. The second half came, and they started to press us even more.”

One of the most noticeable aspects of the match was the physicality. Villanova had 19 fouls, compared to just five for Georgetown. The Wildcats had five yellow cards to bring their season total to 29; theHoyas have had just 13 this year. The rough nature of the game seemed to prevent the Hoyas from establishing their style of play, but Dillon believes that it provided good lessons for the postseason.

“It felt like a tournament game, so it is a good experience for us to get used to for the postseason,” Dillon said. “But it was definitely physical, definitely chippy.”

Friday’s game could be the last the senior class will play at home on Shaw Field. The six seniors, Dillon, forward Steve Neumann, goalkeeper Keon Parsa, defender Ted Helfrich, defender Nick VanHollen and forward Gabe Padilla, were honored in a small ceremony before the match. This year’s graduating class is one of the most successful in program history, making the NCAA tournament three of four years and tying the Class of 2013 in Big East wins. The most important stretch of the season is coming up, but Head Coach Brian Wiese still took time to reflect on the careers of those players.

“I have to be perfectly honest: The six of them have been unbelievably good,” Wiese said. “It’s a special class, and it’s a really special class for me.”