For the Hoyas, this weekend was all about snapping streaks.
In a 2-1 loss Friday night to Cincinnati (3-4, 2-0), Georgetown (2-5, 1-2) did away with a 377-minute scoreless skid. The Hoyas then shed a four-game losing streak with a 1-0 win over Louisville (4-3, 1-1) on Sunday afternoon.
“When you’re not scoring, it starts weighing on the team,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said. “But winning is a habit and losing is a habit, so hopefully we can build some momentum heading into our home stand.”
Against the Bearcats, the Hoyas’ usually stout defense looked porous. Just four minutes into the contest, Cincinnati senior forward Kenny Anaba received a pass inside the Georgetown box and slid a ball to senior midfielder Noah Davidson. The pass brought Hoya senior goalkeeper Joe Devine off of his line and Davidson buried the ball in the open net for his first goal of the season.
Starting out the second half, Anaba placed another ball behind the Georgetown defense, this time to senior forward Patrick Baxter. Devine charged, but Baxter slid a shot past him to put the Bearcats up 2-0.
“I think the goals we scored were both at critical times, coming early in each half,” Cincinnati Head Coach Hylton Dayes said. “We were able to capture the momentum both times and Georgetown had to chase us for the rest of the game.”
The game became more physical in the second half, when Georgetown sophomore defender Len Coleman was sent off with a red card for a hard tackle on freshman midfielder Matt Telting. In the 88th minute, Cincinnati junior forward Scott Stockum challenged for a ball in the air and ended up face down on the ground. Play continued and the ball hit junior midfielder Lionel Jackson’s hand in the Bearcat box and the referee awarded the Hoyas a penalty kick. Junior midfielder Corey Zeller knocked the ball home for Georgetown’s first goal since a Sept. 2 match against arshall, but time ran out on the Hoyas as they pushed for the equalizer.
Junior forward Peter Grasso, starting his first game since the season opener, uncorked three shots, all on goal, but Bearcats freshman goalkeeper Miguel Rosales was up to the task.
Georgetown limped into Louisville shorthanded two days later, but their youth proved to be an asset with several key upperclassmen on the sidelines. Coleman was out due to the red card he received Friday, Devine was suffering from a pulled calf and sophomore defender Mark Zeman was a late scratch on the bus ride to the field with a stomach virus. Forced to deal with the gaps in the lineup, Wiese started six freshmen and two more saw extensive minutes as substitutes.
“[The freshmen] have played well for us, and they have been battle tested more than most freshmen in the country, so we were confident in them,” Wiese said.
The backline had three freshmen making their first career starts – Alex Verdi played for Coleman, Ibukun Otegbeye filled in for Zeman, and Matthew Brutto was in goal for Devine. The defense bent several times but never broke as Brutto recorded seven saves for the shutout in his first career game. Brutto was named to the Big East weekly honor roll for his efforts.
In the fourth minute, it looked like the Hoyas would go down early again when a handball in the box resulted in penalty kick for the Cardinals, but junior midfielder Aaron Clapham sent his free shot wide. Six minutes later, a Louisville shot hit the inside of the post and bounced out. Ten minutes into the second half, junior forward Ryan McDonald’s header hit the post and Georgetown cleared the ball.
“We did make some mistakes, but we weathered them,” Wiese said.
In the 25th minute, junior midfielder Hunter Joslin sent a ball to a streaking Otegbeye in the corner. Otegbeye played a cross on the ground to sophomore midfielder Scott Larrabee, who put the ball home for his first goal of the season.
“The [Louisville] goalie thought the defenders would get the ball, and the defenders thought the goalie would get it,” Larrabee said, “So I was able to sprint to the back post and hit it in.”
The score marked the first time the Hoyas have scored in the first half all season. Louisville attempted 17 shots to Georgetown’s 10, but was unable to find the back of the net and suffered its third 1-0 defeat this season.
The Hoyas will kick off a four game home stand with their home opener when they play host to Rutgers (2-4-1, 1-1-0) at 3 p.m. on Friday at North Kehoe Field.
“Looking to the rest of the season, we have seven games at home and four on the road,” Wiese said. “It’s a nice feeling to be at home going into the heart of the schedule.”