Despite showcasing an aggressive offense and dominating possession, Georgetown men’s soccer settled for a draw Sep. 14 against the Long Island University Sharks.
Both the Hoyas (2-2-3, 0-0-0 Big East) and Sharks (3-2-2, 0-0-0 Northeast) started slow in a defensive first half. The Hoyas maintained control of the game, keeping possession and limiting the Sharks to a single eighth-minute shot. Georgetown struggled to get shots off early, though, but grew into the game offensively, beginning to ramp up its pressure on the Long Island defense towards the end of the first half.
The Hoyas’ offensive effort paid off late in the first half, when first-year forward Mitchell Baker scored his fourth goal of the season. In an exciting sequence, senior midfielder Joe Buck started the drive for Georgetown with a breakaway steal down the left side and connected with sophomore midfielder Eric Howard, who found Baker. Baker’s goal, with only a few seconds remaining in the first half, broke open the match for the Hoyas, sending them into the locker room with the lead.
The Hoyas maintained their offensive momentum early in the second half, regularly threatening Sharks’ senior goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski’s goal, twice forcing the keeper into saves and winning three corner kicks during the first ten minutes of the second half.
Georgetown’s aggression and grit paid off in the 56th minute as sophomore midfielder Jack Heaps connected with first-year midfielder Jack Brown. Brown sent first-year midfielder David Urrutia soaring through the box to score his first college goal and double the Hoyas’ lead.
Long Island would not go down without a fight, though. The Sharks closed in on the Hoyas in the 67th minute when graduate forward Jesper Mikkelsen’s cross found senior midfielder Papa Sow, who planted a strong header past the Hoyas’ junior goalkeeper Tenzing Manske to cut the Hoyas’ lead to 2-1.
As the second half wore on, both sides ramped up their offensive play, but it was the Sharks who bit once more in the 84th minute. LIU junior midfielder Alan Martinez beat Manske with a beautiful, high-arcing shot from the left edge of the 18-yard box that looped over the goalkeeper’s head and tied the match 2-2.
In the 87th minute the Hoyas would have one final opportunity to take the win, but Gawronski saved from graduate forward Marlon Tabora to ensure LIU claimed a creditable draw.
Head Coach Brian Wiese said the performance of his team’s first-years was heartening.
“It was great to see our young guys come out and do a really good job; the two goals we scored were great goals and David Urrutia scoring in his debut is fantastic,” Wiese told Georgetown Athletics. “Mitchell Baker also had a really good goal to close the half.”
Wiese said the team needed to make small changes to ensure they can see out games.
“What we have to resolve as a group is how to do the little things to get the result. We’re playing great soccer right now, but we’re finding ways to tie games we should win and lose games we should tie,” Wiese said.. “We have to focus on fixing those mentality plays and we have to do that quickly as we head to Creighton for our first Big East game.”
After going without a win for the last four matches, Georgetown, previously ranked 25th in the country, dropped from the NCAA rankings. The Hoyas will have the opportunity to change the tide as they start Big East play, beginning with an away match Sept. 20 against the Creighton University Bluejays (4-1-2, 0-0 Big East).
