NCAAM: No. 2 Akron stuns No. 10 Georgetown in final seconds to win 1-0
WASHINGTON (Via Georgetown) – The No. 10 Georgetown University men’s soccer team (0-1-0) lost a heartbreaker in the closing seconds on Friday evening against the No. 2 University of Akron Zips (1-0-0), 1-0, in Akron, Ohio at the Akron Classic. The Blue & Gray looked to be forcing overtime, but the Zips found an answer in the 90th minute to get the win on their home field.
“Looking at the field, there were so many new faces be it freshmen or guys getting their first real minutes in there, and you have to remember that we went through this same thing not too long ago with the group that just graduated,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. “We played well enough to get a result so that was encouraging, but we have a lot of work left to do.”
Akron controlled the run of play in the first half as the Hoyas settled into the game. The Zips had three corner kicks in the first 15 minutes of the game, but the Hoya defense and sophomore goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski (Alamo, Calif./De La Salle) stood strong to keep it scoreless.
The Blue & Gray was forced to play defense for much of the first, but late in the half, GU’s first chance was a dangerous one. The Hoyas had a set piece sent in from the right side, and senior defender PJ Koscher (Bel Air, Md./Archbishop Curley) got up in the air to put a head on it. Akron keeper Ben Lundt managed to come up with the stop to keep it scoreless going into the break.
The second half was much more even as the teams shared possession, and the game opened up.
One of the best chances of the contest came in the 53rd minute on a counter. The Georgetown defense worked the ball through tight spaces in the back and got it to senior midfielder Bakie Goodman (Sarasota, Fla./Pine View School for the Gifted) who used some fancy footwork to get out of trouble. Goodman sent the ball out right and it was served in to a charging Brett Campbell (Wallingford, Pa./The Haverford School) who beat his defender. With a 1v1 opportunity, Campbell’s shot sailed just high as the Hoyas worked to find the back of the net.
Minutes later, it was Akron with the next opportunity but Marcinkowski again came up with the stop.
Counters gave Georgetown chances as three Hoyas found the Zip defense out of shape but couldn’t get the goal out of the scramble. On the other end, Marcinkowski was put in a similar situation and managed the save in the 73rd minute.
In the final minute, a Georgetown foul gave Akron a set piece and one last opportunity. The serve was a good one, but Marcinkowski layed out for a huge save. Unfortunately, the rebound went to the foot of Brad Ruhaak who managed to send it in before Marcinkowski and the defense could recover for the game winner at 89:24.
“I thought the guys really matured over the 90 minutes which was good to see,” said Wiese. “JT gave a master class on goalkeeping today with some first-class saves, and we had some other bright spots so we have a lot of positives to take out of the game.”
The Hoyas were outshot, 20-6, and took just three corner kicks to the Zips’ 13. Marcinkowski took the loss with eight saves in the game, while Lundt was awarded the victory tallying two stops.
The loss snapped an 18-game unbeaten streak for the Blue & Gray that carried over from the previous season. Georgetown’s last loss was to Akron a season ago on September 4, 2015 by a score of 1-0 at Shaw Field.
Georgetown will face West Virginia University on Sunday at 2 p.m., in the second game of the Akron Classic. Live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.
