No. 6 Georgetown men defeat No. 2 Creighton, capture Big East title

WASHINGTON (Via Georgetown University) – The No. 6/6 Georgetown University men’s soccer squad won the 2015 BIG EAST Regular Season Championship and solidified the No. 1 overall seed in the conference tournament with a 2-1 victory over the No. 3/2 Creighton University Bluejays (16-2-0, 7-2-0 BIG EAST) in the BIG EAST Conference regular-season finale on Thursday afternoon at Shaw Field. The Hoyas conclude the regular season with a mark of 13-2-2 and a perfect 9-0-0 in BIG EAST Conference play.

This is the fifth time in program history that the Hoyas have won the regular season championship with the last coming in 2013 and the last outright championship coming during the 2010 campaign. It is the fourth under Head Coach Brian Wiese. The last time a team went a perfect 9-0-0 during the BIG EAST Regular Season was the University of Louisville in 2009.

Georgetown is on a program-record 14-game unbeaten streak and has broken the record for consecutive wins with 11. Earlier this year, the Blue & Gray posted six-consecutive shutouts for a program record and has a total of seven on the season.

“You always talk about making history with every team you have and what can you do and this is great,” said Wiese. “Being perfect in a league like the BIG EAST is a great accomplishment, so I’m just proud of the boys for getting through it.”

The Hoyas were aggressive early on, and the first goal came just 17 minutes in as senior defender Keegan Rosenberry (Ronks, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) sent it to senior forward Brandon Allen (Old Bridge, N.J./St. Joseph) in the middle of the field at the 18. Allen flicked it to junior forward Brett Campbell (Wallingford, Pa./Haverford School) who was sprinting down the right side. Campbell fired to the far post as keeper Connor Sparrow came off his line and was beat to make it 1-0.

Following a helicopter delay, Creighton had its first corner kick of the afternoon and the ball went to Fernando Castellanos who fired right to the middle of the net. Georgetown freshman goalkeeper JT Marcinkowki (Alamo, Calif./De La Salle) made a huge stop and did not give up the rebound to hang on to the advantage.

The next chance came in the 32nd minute as senior midfielder David Witkoff (Gahanna, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln) entered and immediately had a touch that beat Sparrow who was far out of the box. The shot rolled right, but was deflected and off of the corner, sophomore midfielder Arun Basuljevic (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a rocket go just left.

The teams went into break with the Hoyas leading, 1-0.

Creighton had a nice chance to open the second half as the shot by Ricardo Perez went just left of the post. The Bluejays continued to battle looking for the equalizer.

Georgetown became active 15 minutes in, Sparrow had to come up with two huge stops as Rosenberry shot a volley off of a corner and he saved a hard shot from junior forward Alex Muyl (New York, N.Y./Bard).

The equalizer came in the 69th minute as a mistouch on defense allowed Fabian Herbers just a small opening to shoot and he finished into the right corner to make it 1-1.

Despite the momentum from Creighton, the Blue & Gray didn’t back down. In the 83rd minute, Witkoff was fouled setting up a free kick from Rosenberry just outside the box on the left side. Rosenberry served it to the far post and found the head of senior defender Cole Seiler (Anderson, S.C./Christ Church Episcopal School) who headed it back across and into the back of the net to give Georgetown the 2-1 lead.

“Senior Day, having an assist from another senior and captain, and being able to turn around and celebrate with my teammates, that meant the world to me” said Seiler.

From that point on, Creighton pressured and searched for the equalizer, but the defense stood strong. In the final seconds, GU cleared the ball to let time run out and take the 2-1 victory as well as the outright conference title.

Georgetown outshot Creighton, 15-8, and took five corner kicks to the Bluejays’ three. Marcinkowski was awarded the win with two saves to his credit, while Sparrow took the loss tallying four saves on the afternoon.

“You can’t do it much better than 9-0 so I think for us as seniors, it’s been quite the experience and especially something to end on, but we’ve still got a lot ahead of us and we’re going to do our best to keep our heads on straight after a win like this,” said Rosenberry.

The top-seeded Hoyas will have to wait for the final seeds to be solidified, but are guaranteed home-field advantage throughout the BIG EAST Championship. GU will open tournament play on Thursday, Nov. 12 in a semifinal matchup. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., at Shaw Field. Live stats will be available through www.GUHoyas.com.

The game will be broadcast for free on the BIG EAST Digital Network featuring Dan Helfrich and Tom Greaser calling the action.