How does a coach get 11 freshmen acclimated to college life and ready to contribute to the team immediately?

For Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese, the answer is simple – a tight knit trio of seniors who have seen it all. That, and a camping trip to Canoe Creek State Park in rural Pennsylvania.

Wiese organized a trip to a camping grounds near Altoona, Pa., where he put each of his three seniors – Joe Devine, Richard Diaz and Mike Glaccum – in charge of running a cabin of their own.

“So we were out in the middle of nowhere. . I thought it was a fabulous trip. It rained every day,” Wiese says. “I think if you ask the guys at the end of the season, they’ll say they were happy they did it,” he adds with a smile, but then lauds his seniors’ ability to bring such a young team together.

The cabin leaders had to organize the bunks, buy groceries, delegate cooking and cleaning duties and keep the guys entertained with none of the modern amenities.

“There was no TV, no Internet, nothing to distract them. They had to interact and bond as a group,” Wiese explains. “And these three guys did a good job heading that up and organizing it.”

On the field, Wiese’s three seniors, who have been with the Hoyas for two years longer than the coach himself, have plenty of college soccer experience that helps them relate to and guide each one of the different freshmen.

“[The freshmen are] a big group and a pretty diverse group. You’ve got some quiet guys, you’ve got some loud guys. You’ve got guys that are playing and guys that aren’t playing. They all have different roles,” Wiese says. “These seniors have done it all. They’ve all experienced it, so they can relate to all the freshmen from a soccer point of view.”

Diaz knows what it’s like to get playing time as a freshman – he started all 21 games his freshman year. Glaccum came off the bench as a role player, and Devine understands the freshmen acting as understudies to the upperclassmen. Devine played behind Andrew Keszler for two years, then split time with Keszler last season before becoming a regular starter in his senior year.

“We’re going to be really young as a team,” Glaccum says. “We try to make sure all the young guys understand what we’re trying to accomplish as a team and understand how tough college soccer can be.”

Not only does the trio understand the varying amounts of playing time the freshmen will receive, each can keep a watchful eye out for the first years in his part of the field – Devine is the Hoyas’ goalkeeper, Diaz plays defense and Glaccum is a forward.

“We all complement each other in our leadership styles,” Devine says. “On any given day, one might be more vocal than the other, and we set good examples.”

Wiese has seen the different leadership qualities of his seniors develop over the first few weeks of the young season.

“They’re all different,” Wiese says. “All the guys respect Joe. He considers what he says, and when he says it the guys listen. Glaccs grabs it a little more by the horns as far as being vocal with the guys.”

Diaz, who has been sidelined by a nagging knee injury, plays a different role.

“Rich is adding a lot of other intangibles to the whole thing,” Wiese says.

Diaz embraces his role. “When I’m playing or not playing, I’m always yelling from the sidelines,” he says.

Perhaps the best way Devine, Diaz and Glaccum lead their squad is by example. All three are among the most talented players on the team.

Devine has 58 career saves and recorded a goals against average of 1.93 last season. Glaccum is the team’s leading returning scorer with three goals and three assists last season.

Diaz came to the Hilltop as perhaps the most talented player in his class and made an immediate impact. He started all 21 games his freshman season and was named the Georgetown rookie of the year in 2004. Diaz hurt his knee in both his sophomore and junior seasons and played in only 12 games the past two years, starting in eight.

While training on the Multi-Sport Facility early this season, Diaz caught his spike in the turf and aggravated his knee. Wiese has kept Diaz out of practice and the Mi Cocina Soccer Classic, but remains hopeful that Diaz will be available for the Big East opener at Connecticut on Sept. 15.

The trio of seniors does not stop mentoring the young players when they step off the field.

“They give you a lot of experience to help [the freshmen] make decisions on the academic side of things,” Wiese says. “You’ve got to balance the soccer side and the academic side. I think the 11 freshmen have come in and adjusted really well, and a lot of that has to be attributed to the three seniors.”

Both Devine and Glaccum have been named Big East academic all-stars two years running, and Wiese says they have two of the highest GPAs on the team.

With their first seven games on the road, the freshmen have been forced to adjust quickly to the workload of college and the traveling involved in collegiate sports.

“For our experience, we know exactly what goes on at school,” Diaz says. “We can help [the freshmen] out and tell them what they need to know, especially for days before games.”

The seniors have made the team a tightly knit group through their leadership, and this may stem from the trio’s relationship outside of soccer. Diaz and Glaccum were on the same recruiting trip before they even enrolled at Georgetown, and then were roommates freshman year. Diaz, a California native, has spent Thanksgiving with the Glaccum family in their Philadelphia home.

Sophomore year, Devine moved in with Diaz and Glaccum, and the three have lived together ever since.

“We have a really great friendship and we really know each other well, so we have a good connection on the field,” Devine says. “Likewise with the team – we’re a really close knit group in general.”

The seniors have successfully brought the young squad together, but this is just one step in a series of goals.

Glaccum and Diaz both have their eyes set on earning a bid to the NCAA tournament’s field of 48. However, each acknowledged that there are smaller goals they need to meet in order to achieve this lofty mark.

“We want to make the Big East semifinals. We want to try to have a bye in the Big East playoffs. We want to try to have a one-goal-or-less goals against average,” Glaccum lists with ease, as if he has played them out in his mind over and over again. “So we have a lot of subsidiary goals that we think will help us enable the top goal.”

“It even goes lower than that,” Diaz adds. “Making sure everyone’s on time for practice, everyone’s prepared, everyone knows what they need to do before the game. Everything counts.”

Diaz’s attention to detail makes him valuable even if his knee keeps him off the field. Wiese elected to bring Diaz to Dallas for the Mi Cocina Soccer Classic even though he would not be available to play.

Wiese knows the NCAA tournament is a long way off and through the thick forest of the Big East regular season. In conference play, the Hoyas will face Connecticut, Rutgers, West Virginia and Notre Dame, all of which began the season ranked in the top 25.

“The real test is when we go through some hard times and when we go through some good times. How we handle that. The seniors are going to be a big part of setting the tone in both cases,” Wiese says.

But after handling Canoe Creek, so how hard can it be?