It was hard to differentiate Georgetown’s home whites from Pittsburgh’s dark road jerseys toward the end of the match on a muddy, rain-soaked North Kehoe field on Saturday, but it was crystal clear who the superior side was.
The Hoyas’ won 2-0 on two late scores by junior midfielder Sean Bellomy, while their defense stifled the Panthers’ attack. Georgetown (6-10, 4-5) had 17 shots and put 10 on goal, while last-place Pittsburgh (2-13-2, 0-9-1) could only muster eight shots, none of which were on goal.
“I’m thrilled for Sean because he’s been playing very well the last few weeks,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said of Bellomy, who scored a goal last Tuesday against Maryland. “He’s Mr. Utility for us . he’s played almost every position for this team except goalkeeper, and he’s been one of our best finishers in practice so we figured we’d put him up by the goal, and it paid off today.”
The win moved the Hoyas into fifth place in the Big East Blue Division, with contests against Seton Hall and No. 7 Notre Dame remaining. While it is unlikely that Georgetown will get a home game in the first round of the playoffs – it would need two wins and Providence to lose its final game – a loss on Wednesday at Seton Hall would drop them into the sixth seed.
With the sixth seed, the Hoyas would likely face West Virginia in the first round, a team that beat them 1-0 earlier in the season. A win tomorrow night at Seton Hall would ensure the Hoyas fifth place and a likely game against Providence, a team that Georgetown has already beaten 2-0.
For most of the first half, Georgetown possessed the ball on the Pittsburgh half of the field and created numerous chances. Freshman midfielder Seth C’deBaca, making his fourth start of the season, crossed several balls from the right wing. C’deBaca did not seem to be affected by the poor footing on the wet field, often stopping on a dime and cutting through the Panther defense.
“Playing on a wet field makes the game a lot of fun. You could cut back and people would go sliding past you,” C’deBaca said.
The Hoyas could not capitalize on the chances C’deBaca created, as the Panthers’ junior goalkeeper Jordan Marks made five stops and held Georgetown scoreless in the first half.
In the beginning of the second half, the pace of the game slowed down on the soggy field.
“It was a heavy field,” Wiese said. “You saw some of the guys slow down like they were going through quicksand.”
With Pittsburgh’s offense not threatening Georgetown’s backline – freshman goalkeeper Matthew Brutto did not have to make any saves and rarely even touched the ball – Wiese brought on playmaker Ibu Otegbeye, a freshman defender with a penchant for making runs down the sideline. Wiese also sent Bellomy in as a substitute with Otegbeye in the 61st minute.
With 11 minutes remaining in regulation, Pittsburgh cleared a Georgetown corner and freshman forward Chandler Diggs came up with the ball and passed it back to Otegbeye, who sent an arcing ball over the Panther defense. Bellomy ran onto the ball and met it in the middle of the box, floating an easy header past Marks.
In their only lapse of the day, the Hoyas’ defense nearly gave it right back seven minutes later, when junior forward E.J. cCormick received a pass two yards away from the Georgetown goal. cCormick turned and rushed his shot, hitting it just wide of the left post.
The Hoyas sealed the win in the 89th minute when Diggs slid a ball to a wide open Bellomy in the same spot he scored his first goal. Bellomy hit a low shot that beat Marks on the left side. Bellomy almost got a hat trick but hit a shot wide with less than a minute remaining.
“We knew that they were going to get tired towards the end of the game,” Bellomy said. “We said at halftime that it was important to be patient and that the goal was most likely to come after the 70th minute.”
Marks played well in a losing effort for the Panthers, making eight saves and keeping the score tied on a particularly good stop in the 63rd minute. A Georgetown cross found its way through traffic to sophomore midfielder Scott Larrabee, who went air-born for a scissors kick. Larrabee struck the ball well from 10 yards out, but Marks reacted quickly and made an outstanding save on the hard shot.
“That’s what he’s supposed to do, make the routine saves and then make a couple big ones to keep us in it,” Head Coach Joe Luxbacher said of his goalkeeper.
Georgetown has now scored seven goals in their last four games after netting just five in the first 12 matches of the season.
“We’re starting to get better team chemistry. In the beginning of the year, we had a lot of good players, we just weren’t gelling well,” C’deBaca said.
The weekend was the Goals Unlimited Alumni Weekend, and the 1997 Georgetown squad, the only Georgetown men’s soccer team to win an NCAA tournament game, was honored at halftime.
