Diana Clock/The Hoya Georgetown improved to 4-5 overall this year after Tuesday’s victory.
Showing focus and confidence, the Georgetown men’s soccer team overcame the Princeton University Tigers in an exciting 3-2 victory on North Kehoe Field Tuesday, bringing the Hoyas’ record to 4-5 as they approach the midpoint of their season.
Georgetown took the lead early in the game. After a Princeton defender deflected the ball, sophomore forward Kaiser Chowdhry out-scrambled Princeton’s sophomore goalkeeper Eric White and knocked the ball into the empty goal in the third minute. Play stalled in the midfield for most of the first half, though, when Princeton often dominated. The Georgetown defense however, succeeded in repelling the Tigers’ offensive onslaughts and kept the score 1-0 until halftime.
The 364 spectators at North Kehoe Field witnessed a more offense-driven struggle when the players returned to the field for the second half. While Princeton dictated play in the first minutes of the half and came up with a few shot opportunities, the Hoyas sprang to life, forcing the ball down the field and breaking through the Tigers’ defense.
In the 56th minute of the contest, sophomore back Paul Brandley sent the ball from the right corner across through the Princeton defense, sneaking it past the goalie where junior midfielder David Eder seized upon it and sank it into the goal, giving the Hoyas a 2-0 lead. The team soon racked up another goal in the 57th minute when sophomore defender Dan Gargan, who had beat back the pressing Princeton offense in the first half, blasted the ball from 45 yards out into the top left corner of the goal.
Down 3-0, the Tigers decided to fight their way back in the game and took advantage of the Hoyas, who had become overconfident in their large lead. Princeton pushed deep into the backfield and started created openings for goals.
“We were defending a lot better in the first half. It was a long game and I think we got a little lax after those first three goals and gave up a lot on defense,” sophomore forward Dan Gargan said.
In the 66th minute, Princeton sophomore Adrian Melville broke the shutout with assistance from junior midfielder Gianfranco Tripicchio and freshman midfielder Alex Reison. Sophomore Ryan Rich cut the lead down to one goal when he booted a ball that evaded Hoya junior goalkeeper Tim Hogan in the 72nd minute.
“We’ve got to learn how to put a game away. When you go up by a few goals, the other team is going to start to press hard, no matter who they are,” Chowdhry said.
Princeton’s offense eventually sputtered out, and Georgetown directed the game during its closing minutes. Princeton became increasingly more physical in their play and the number of fouls began to mount. The Tigers finished with 17 fouls, 11 of them from the second half and two yellow cards, while the referees called the Hoyas for 11 total fouls.
Princeton took 19 shots throughout the game, eight of them coming from Rich. The Hoyas nearly matched that mark with 17 shots. While Princeton goalkeeper White saved six shots, Hogan stopped the Tigers four times at goal; Hogan has amassed 32 saves for the season and maintains a .780 save percentage.
The Hoyas welcomed the win after dropping last Saturday’s home game 3-1 to Boston College and falling to 2-2 in the Big East. Tomorrow the team heads north to Storrs, Connecticut, home of the seventh-ranked University of Connecticut, the teams greatest challenge yet and an important Big East foe. They hope to repeat last year’s 1-0 upset, but it will take a stronger effort.
“I don’t think we’re looking forward to UConn,” Chowdhry said. “It’s tough to go out and play in that atmosphere, but it’s nice to come off a win. Knowing that we’ve scored three goals [today], and knowing that we’re capable of scoring more will be good motivation going up against a team like that.”
Head Coach Keith Tabatznik looks to use the same formula to thwart the enemy. “We plan to beat them the same way as we did last year. We got to have a very good team focus and try to dictate the tempo of the game by how we play both offensively and defensively. Hopefully the game will have the same look to it as last year.”