Georgetown men fall to DePaul in penalties

WASHINGTON  – The Georgetown University men’s soccer squad was eliminated from the BIG EAST Tournament Wednesday afternoon falling in penalty kicks after taking the DePaul University Blue Demons (8-9-2) to double overtime.  The fourth-seeded Hoyas had two leads throughout the contest, but just couldn’t hold on resulting in the 2-2 decision.  In penalty kicks the Hoyas fell 3-1 ending their season with a record of 9-8-2.

“We’ve played really good soccer the last month of the season but we just haven’t been getting the job done one way or another,” said Head Coach Brian Wiese.  “You’re getting unbelievable chances and waiting for shots to go in.  The real problem here is our inability to hold on to that 2-1 lead.”

The Hoyas dominated offensive play early on as they had a number of chances to open the game.  In the eighth minute, Chandler Diggs (Coppell, Texas/Coppell) took a few touches at the top of the box and then fired to the left post.  The ball ricocheted in giving Georgetown the 1-0 lead.

However, the equalizer came in the 24th minute when Alex Mangan hit a shot from 30 yards that went into the top of the net out of goalkeeper Mark Wilber’s (Tijeras, N.M./Albuquerque Academy) reach.  The Hoyas went into the break tied at one but outshooting DePaul 9-6 and taking two more corners.

The second half began quieter for both squads as neither could find a rhythm or the back of the net.  Georgetown managed to control possession but it wasn’t until the 71st minute that it struck.  Mark Zeman (Western Springs, Ill/Lyons Township) served it into the box and defender Alex Verdi (Ivyland, Pa./Germantown Academy) went up for the header but DePaul keeper Joe Ferrari punched it away.  Fortunately, freshman Andy Riemer (McLean, Va./Georgetown Prep) was right there to head it back in and give GU the lead.

That lead was short lived as the Blue Demons answered just 90 seconds later on a header in the middle of the box after a defensive breakdown.  The score would remain tied through both overtimes despite a number of huge chances from the Hoyas.  After 110 minutes of play, the game was called a 2-2 draw and the squads prepared for penalty kicks to decide which would advance to the BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinals.

“I thought we had the game won twice, I didn’t see how we would lose this game but once they got the second goal we knew we were done,” said Wiese. “Something hasn’t been clicking since October and we needed to find a way to right the ship.”

Georgetown lined up some of its best scorers, but it just wasn’t their day as the first two shots were saved by Ferrari.  Additionally, the Blue Demons took the lead hitting their first two PK’s.  Zeman was the third shooter and connected to get the Hoyas back in the game, but after DePaul connected on its third it was make or break for Georgetown.  The fourth shooter went just high as the Blue Demons came away with the ticket to the next round.

The Blue & Gray outshot DePaul 26-14 and took five more corner kicks.  Wilber had five saves in goal and Ferrari tallied seven.

“It’s hard to stomach, penalty kicks are like a glorified toss of a coin but that is the nature of the game,” said Wiese.  “It’s hard psychologically since we played the better game and felt like we shouldn’t have put ourselves in this situation where the other team might be happy to be there.”

Georgetown’s loss ends its season although the hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament is still looming.  The Hoyas will have to wait more than a week to see if they will be invited or if these heartbreaking penalty kicks were the conclusion to a solid season.