No. 12 Georgetown men upend No. 1 UCLA, 3-1
WASHINGTON (Via Georgetown University) – The No. 12/4 Georgetown University men’s soccer squad (1-2-1) bounced back with a huge 3-1 victory over the No. 1/2 UCLA Bruins (1-2-0) in front of a sellout crowd Monday afternoon at Shaw Field. The Blue & Gray controlled the first half, and managed to hold on for the first victory of the season as well as the first win over the No. 1 team in the country in program history.
“This is maybe the most talented team I’ve ever had and we’re off to the worst start I’ve ever had, so how do you justify that,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. “I thought the first half was really good, we did exactly what we were trying to do. It was great to get the goal, but we would have liked to be a little more dangerous in it. The second half, not so much, but we told them at halftime that they had to get a second goal against a team as talented as UCLA.”
Georgetown managed the game early on as the squad controlled possession forcing the Bruins to play a majority of the first half on defense. At the 18-minute mark, junior forward Alex Muyl (New York, N.Y./Bard) was on a breakaway and seemed to be 1v1 with keeper Juan Cervantes before being pulled down just outside the box. The Bruins were given a yellow card, but the missed opportunity for a red card inspired the raucous crowd, including the almost 1,000 students in attendance.
In the 29th minute, the Hoyas came up with two big chances off of corner kicks, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
That all changed in the 36th minute when junior forward Brett Campbell (Wallingford, Pa./The Haverford School) entered the game. Within three minutes, Campbell made an impact scoring the first goal of the season for the Blue & Gray. Senior defender Keegan Rosenberry (Ronks, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) served the ball in on the right side. His pass was deflected to the feet of Campbell who finished perfectly into the left corner to make it 1-0.
GU had one more opportunity before the break as Campbell continued to be active, and the Hoyas went into the half leading 1-0.
It didn’t take long for the Blue & Gray to build the lead as sophomore midfielder Arun Basuljevic (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) scored his first goal of the season off of a Brandon Allen (Old Bridge, N.J./St. Joseph’s) free kick. The service went into the box, and Basuljevic expertly finished to give the Hoyas the 2-0 advantage.
The goal inspired the Bruins who looked like a different, and much more dangerous team, in the second half. UCLA, with some of the fastest forwards in the country, put three men up top hoping to get numbers on the Hoya defense that was without the services of junior All-American defender Joshua Yaro (Santa Barbara, Calif./Cate School) who was out with an injury.
As the Bruins became more aggressive on offense, it was up to the defense by committee as well as freshman goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski (Alamo, Calif./De La Salle) to hold onto the advantage.
As he has done all season, Marcinkowski shined in goal coming up with big saves in traffic, deflecting a sure goal over the crossbar and taking the angle on a 2v1 to come off his line and slide in for the save of the afternoon.
Despite Georgetown’s best efforts, UCLA was able to find the back of the net in the 71st minute. A ball bouncing around in the box was slipped in by Jackson Yueill to make it 2-1.
The Bruins continued to pressure, but the defense stood strong, and Campbell played the hero once again in the 88th minute as a breakaway with Muyl and Allen was sent to Campbell streaking down the right side. Campbell beat the keeper to the left corner to make it 3-1 and secure the victory for the Blue & Gray.
UCLA outshot Georgetown, 14-11, but the Hoyas took five corner kicks to the Bruins’ four. Marcinkowski was awarded the win in the net with six saves on the afternoon, and Cervantes took the loss with two saves to his credit.
It marked the first multi-goal game of Campbell’s career and Marcinkowksi’s first victory on the Hilltop.
“The fans have been awesome to start the year so far,” said Rosenberry on the sellout atmosphere. “It’s easy for us to get up for a game, especially for a highly-ranked team like this, but when you’ve got a ton of fans behind you, it’s a lot of fun.”
The Hoyas will have the week off and be back in action at Shaw Field on Saturday, September 12 as the squad hosts Radford University at 1 p.m. Live stats and a webcast featuring Dan Helfrich and Tom Greaser will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.
