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Junior goalkeeper Mark Wilbers appeared in eight games last season, recording two shutouts.

The Hoyas’ high hopes came crashing down at the end of last season, when the team was denied a spot in the NCAA tournament, bringing a trophy-less end to the year.

Even though last year’s performance placed Head Coach Brian Wiese’s men on the brink of qualification – the closest they had come to playing in the tournament in a decade – their efforts fell short of the tournament. The team, especially the six graduating seniors who had played such an integral role last season, were left out without due recognition of their hard work.

The Hoyas kicked off the 2008-2009 season tying the 1998 team for the program’s best-ever start – five consecutive wins. The winning streak also included a program-best five straight shutouts, thanks to a fierce back four and excellent shot-stopping in the goal by then-sophomore goalkeeper Matt Brutto and his redshirt freshman understudy, Mark Wilber. Brutto also made it to the top of the national goalkeeper rankings, finishing the season with a record of eight shutouts, allowing just five goals all year.

After such a hot start, the team was touted by many in the collegiate soccer circuit as having the potential to finish first in the Big East tournament, and possibly even qualify for the NCAAs. But Lady Luck chose to turn her back on the Blue and Gray just as the team was starting to live up to lofty expectations – then-sophomore defender Ibu Otegbeye, who had been integral to the flawless back four in the opening games, tore his anterior cruciate ligament just six games into the season.

Otegbeye was forced to sit on the sidelines as the team entered a mid-season slump, at one point winning just two of eight games. This low point for the Hoyas weighed them down and ultimately prevented them from making the leap to the NCAAs, despite a surge near the end.

“We’re building on previous successes and disappointments as motivation this season,” Wiese said, looking forward to the challenge of their 2009 season. “We felt we were an NCAA tourney team last year and we expect to be better this year. The goal is to take it up to that level to compete for a national championship and we think we can if all of the pieces fall into place.”

This year, the Blue and Gray welcomes the class of 2013 to their ranks, along with junior midfielder Ozzie Martinez. Martinez had been spotted training on and off with the team for the last two years, and has finally made it to the roster. Wiese dubs Martinez as a “true walk-on,” who is versatile and “a multi-purpose player that can fill a lot of roles as a reserve.”

The freshman class consists of seven new players to fill the void left by the seniors who graduated from the program last season. Defender Kevin Finnegan, hailing from West Nyack, N.Y., has trained with the Red Bull U.S. Soccer Academy. Local Georgetown Prep grad and midfielder Andrew Riemer, who was selected twice to the National ODP Pool and played with the D.C. United Super Y-League squad, rounded out the summer signings in March.

February saw five freshmen confirmed to the roster. Midfielder Ian Christianson, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has a wealth of experience on the top level, having played in the Chicago Fire’s US Development Academy and training in the U.S. National Team Pool for three years.

Alongside him at midfield will be three other players: Matt Hammett from Centennial, Colo., an all-state honoree and member of Real Colorado’s U.S. Development Team; Tommy Muller, joining the Hoyas from Altamonte Springs, Fla., a member of the Super Y-League ODP National Team for two years; and James Nealis from Massapequa, N.Y., a former NSCAA/Adidas All-American and New York state player of the year.

Another New York State native, Mark Luxama, joins the roster as a forward, bringing his international experience playing with the U-17 Haitian national team in the U-17 World Cup in Korea, and with a U.S. club team – the Brooklyn Knights – in France.

“The freshmen have come in as advertised,” Wiese said, happy with the way they have played in the preseason. “They’ve stepped in and looked comfortable in training as we had hoped. . They were a highly rated class coming in and it looks like it’s an accurate assessment.”

As the Hoyas welcome new players into their fold, they will also be saying goodbye to a couple of former teammates. Defender Brandon Pfluger, who looked promising in the back-four for the Hoyas during the preseason, has transferred to Southern Methodist University. He qualifies as a redshirt freshman, having seen no official minutes during the ’08-’09 season. Fellow defender junior Mostafa Ebrahimnejad will not be rejoining the team despite some good performances in the previous two years.

Despite losing two strong defenders, Wiese does not seem fazed. With Otegbeye recovered from his ACL injury and with senior captain Mark Zeman, senior preseason all-Big East Len Coleman and junior Alex Verdi holding the back-four, the Hoyas look poised to avoid any defensive woes. “We think our defense will be a strong group for the team with three starters returning and Ibu healthy,” Wiese said.

“We see that as potentially our strongest suit because they are so experienced . as well as having two of the best keepers in the league behind them.”

Both Brutto and Wilber are again expected to share goalkeeping duties, a combination that worked wonders for Wiese, especially in the early stages of the season, and gave him the element of surprise with some important games.

The offense will also have to be on mark in order to balance the work of the defense. In addition to the attack-minded freshmen entering the squad, the season will see the return of junior forwards Chandler Diggs and Jose Colchao, as well as sophomore forward Uche Onyeador, spearheading the attack.

Perhaps even more formidable is the returning midfield pair of junior Seth C’deBaca and senior Scott Larrabee, who proved to be a deadly combination in the flanks, scoring seven goals and notching six assists between them last season.

Georgetown will be playing one of the toughest schedules in recent history of the program, with seven nationally ranked teams on its slate.

“We have our work cut out for us with a hard road game at Adelphi to open the season,” Wiese said.

“The real challenge will be our home-opening weekend against [California] and UCLA. We could be playing the best soccer of the season and still be 0-2 on that weekend.”

This team, however, seems like one that can be characterized by determination and will not easily be intimidated.

“We’ll find out what we’re made of very quickly and are excited about the challenge,” Wiese said. “We’re working hard to spread word about the first weekend. We think we could have a standing-room only crowd, biggest of the season and we hope to have students there.”

The first game of the season will be on the road at Adelphi on Sept. 1 and the home opener will be played at North Kehoe Field on Sept. 4 at 4 p.m. against California.

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