Georgetown University men’s soccer releases 2019 schedule
WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University men’s soccer program released its 2019 schedule on Monday. The Hoyas will play a challenging nonconference slate, and also have a solid BIG EAST Conference schedule.
In 20 total games in 2019, including three exhibitions, the Hoyas will face seven 2018 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, including the reigning national champions Maryland, and three teams ranked in the final national poll.
[+Georgetown Men’s Soccer 2019 Schedule]
“This is another good year of scheduling for us,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese. “We feel we have the right schedule to prepare us for the BIG EAST which has the potential to be the strongest it’s been in years. We are hoping that with the good balance and RPI of our opponents, we will put ourselves in a position to make a postseason run.”
The Blue & Gray will play 10 regular season home games including four against conference opponents. GU will host Providence (Sept. 28), Seton Hall (Oct.11) and Xavier (Oct. 19). The squad will close out the regular season at home on November 6 against Creighton. The Hoyas’ BIG EAST road schedule opens at Butler on September 20. That game will be followed by DePaul (Oct. 4), St. John’s (Oct. 23) and Villanova (Nov. 2).
Georgetown will open the season with three road exhibition games. GU will face Penn State on August 17, and then battles Delaware on August 20. Closing out the exhibition schedule will be Virginia Tech on August 24. The Hokies were an NCAA Tournament team a season ago and finished at No. 17 in the final United Soccer Coaches Poll.
The Blue & Gray will open the regular season at home hosting rival Syracuse on Friday August 30, and then battling Temple in a Labor Day contest on September 2. Syracuse advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2018. This will be following by a challenging trip to the West Coast as Georgetown faces a pair of NCAA Tournament teams UC Irvine (Sept. 6) and UCLA (Sept. 9).
The Hoyas will return home against another former rival in UConn on September 14 before sandwiching a contest against Louisville (Sept. 24) with a pair of BIG EAST matchups. Both the Huskies and Cardinals earned NCAA Tournament berths in 2018.
Georgetown will kick off a four-game homestand on October 8 against Lehigh at Shaw Field. The opponents include a pair of BIG EAST foes as well as Maryland on October 14 to conclude nonconference play. The Terps are the reigning national champions.
The BIG EAST Championship will be played at home sites, with the higher seed hosting. The top six teams in the league will qualify for the championship with the top two seeds earning a first round bye. The first round is scheduled for Nov. 9, while the semifinals will be played on Nov. 13. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 17.
Georgetown went 13-5-3 this past season. Along the way, the Hoyas claimed the 2018 BIG EAST Championship after entering the tournament as the No. 2 seed and earned an automatic NCAA Tournament berth with the No. 13 overall seed. It marked the third championship in four years for the Blue & Gray as well as the third tournament championship in program history. The coaching staff was also named United Soccer Coach East Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
