The Georgetown men’s soccer team feels the Phillies’ pain.

A few hours before Philadelphia center fielder Shane Victorino grounded out to second base to end the professional baseball season, freshman midfielder Ian Christianson’s penalty kick soared over the crossbar at North Kehoe Field and brought the Hoyas’ frustrating year to an anticlimactic close.

“Something stopped clicking in October,” Head Coach Brian Wiese said, reflecting on the 2009 season. “We just weren’t able to right the ship again.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the Hoyas (9-8-2) lost their opening round game of the Big East tournament to the DePaul Blue Demons (8-9-2) on penalty kicks. Regulation ended in a 2-2 tie after Georgetown surrendered two separate one-goal leads, and after a scoreless overtime, DePaul won the shootout 3-1.

“It’s the hardest way to lose a game,” senior captain and defender Mark Zeman said.

For much of the game, it did not seem that penalty kicks would be necessary. The Hoyas jumped out to an early lead in the eighth minute when junior forward Chandler Diggs dribbled into the box from the left and ripped a low shot to the near-side, off the post and in. Even with more than 80 minutes remaining, the home team was confident at that stage that it would advance to the quarterfinals.

“I didn’t see how we were going to lose this game,” Wiese said.

DePaul, however, was desperate to find an equalizer and knew that its season would be over if it lost to Georgetown. In continuation of one of the strangest patterns of the Hoyas’ year, the visitors’ tying goal came during the “Bermuda Triangle” – the mid-first-half stretch of time during which the Hoyas have allowed a goal in seven of their last nine games. In those matches, the Hoyas are 3-5-1.

The Blue Demons’ goal came in the 24th minute when junior forward Alex Mangan powered a shot by junior goalkeeper Mark Wilber into the top left corner from just outside the 18-yard box. The timing and placement of the goal were eerily reminiscent of the first goal the Hoyas allowed during their

previous match against Providence on Saturday.

Despite their disappointment, the Hoyas continued to press forward offensively. In the 34th minute, junior forward Jose Colchao had a chance to score from point-blank range, but his attempt was turned away by freshman goalkeeper Joe Ferrari. Ten minutes later, Colchao nearly scored again after racing Ferrari to a loose ball in front of goal, but his momentum carried his first touch too far toward the sideline for him to manage a shot on net.

In the second half, the Blue and Gray continued to dominate possession and scoring chances, keeping the ball under control in DePaul’s half of the field for most of the period. In the 57th minute, Diggs took his defender on one-on-one down the right sideline and nearly scored on a low shot across the frame of the goal, but the ball trickled wide and the score remained tied.

In the 71st, however, the Hoyas finally gave the home fans something to cheer about. Zeman floated an early cross into the box, tempting Ferrari to leave his line and punch the ball away. On the redirection, it fell to freshman midfielder Andy Riemer, who was able to stick his leg out and volley the ball into the empty net. A seemingly decisive goal at the time, Riemer’s

score sent the Georgetown bench and stands into frenzy.

“We all felt very confident because we don’t let up many goals, especially with the possession and number of chances we were having,” senior midfielder Scott Larrabee said.

The Blue Demons, however, rained on the Hoyas’ parade only a minute later. A lapse in concentration allowed DePaul to penetrate the Georgetown back line, and senior forward Steffen Vroom was able to head a cross from the left side past Wilber to knot things up at two, leaving the Hoyas and their supporters in shock.

“I thought we had the game won twice,” Wiese said of the Hoyas’ two leads. “Once we got that second goal, I thought that was done. Our real problem was our inability to hold onto that 2-1 lead.”

Even after allowing a second demoralizing equalizer, the Hoyas created several chances for a third goal in the remainder of regulation and in overtime. Larrabee headed a ball just wide of the post in the 97th minute and just over the crossbar in the 107th. As time expired in overtime, junior midfielder Seth C’deBaca rocketed a shot from 20 yards out that appeared headed for the side netting, but it also missed just wide.

With no winner after 110 minutes, the rulebook mandates penalty kicks in tournament play, regardless of the injustices coaches and players see in the shootout process.

“Penalty kicks are a glorified toss of a coin,” Wiese said. “It’s not a fair way to decide a game – to put that much pressure on one guy – but that’s the way the game’s built.”

Going into the shootout, Wiese recognized a psychological difference between the Hoyas, who felt they deserved the win in regulation based on their dominant overall performance, and the Blue Demons, who were arguably fortunate to have staved off the home side in overtime.

“When you’re the team that’s had the better of play going to penalty kicks, you don’t want to be there,” Wiese said. “You feel like you shouldn’t have been there.”

On the other hand, Wiese felt that DePaul was thankful to have reached the shootout.

“They were probably pretty happy being there,” he said. “The psychological difference can sometimes do it.”

There is no doubt that the Blue Demons seemed more confident than the Hoyas at the penalty spot over the next five minutes.

C’deBaca started things off for the Hoyas; he went left, but so did Ferrari. After the Blue Demons converted their first opportunity, Ferrari saved another. When DePaul went up 2-0 going into the third round of tries, the writing was on the wall.

Zeman was able to score on Georgetown’s third attempt, sneaking his attempt low to the left post and under Ferrari’s outstretched arms. DePaul refused to miss, however, and made it 3-1, putting

Georgetown’s season on Ian Christianson’s shoulders. His shot flew high, and with it went the Hoyas’ 2009 campaign.

“I’m proud of the guys and the way we played,” Zeman said. “We’ve just had a run of bad luck. We came out with the right attitude. . We should have won with two goals.”

At 8-3-1 earlier this season, the Hoyas looked like an NCAA tournament lock. No one – especially not Wiese – saw their 1-5-1 finish coming.

“[The DePaul match] is a microcosm of these last two or three weeks of the season,” he said. “As a coach, it’s hard to stomach.”

Three Hoyas – Zeman, Larrabee and defender Len Coleman – played their last match for Georgetown on Wednesday. They were all key members of the squad this fall, and each will be sorely missed at his respective position as the Blue and Gray look forward to 2010.

But for now, the Hoyas will have to deal with the pain of an early postseason exit and unfulfilled expectations. “