No. 10 Georgetown men’s soccer falls 1-0 to West Virginia
WASHINGTON (Via Georgetown University) – The No. 10 Georgetown University men’s soccer team (0-2-0) dropped a 1-0 decision to the West Virginia University Mountaineers (1-1-0) in the second game of the Akron Classic in Akron, Ohio on Sunday. Sophomore goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski (Alamo, Calif./De La Salle) was the bright spot on the day earning a spot on the Akron Classic All-Tournament Team.
“Today wasn’t a good performance and I have to give West Virginia credit because they were disciplined and worked hard through 90 minutes. We had tired legs, I think we expended more energy than we realized on Friday against Akron and it showed,” said Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese.
“We have a lot of retooling to do based on the weekend, and have to really examine how to maximize what we have because we’re not generating enough on offense.”
The Mountaineers had the first opportunity of the game, and the Hoyas answered minutes later as senior midfielder Bakie Goodman’s (Sarasota, Fla./Pine View School for the Gifted) shot went just wide. West Virginia held an advantage in possession and shots and looked dangerous in the 31st minute with back-to-back shots. One of the shots was saved by Marcinkowski and the other went wide.
The game continued to be physical, and in the final minute of the first half West Virginia had another solid chance. The shot by Tucker Stephenson was saved by Marcinkowski as the teams went into the break scoreless.
Neither squad had an especially productive first half with WVU holding the 5-1 advantage in shots, and both teams attempting one corner kick apiece.
West Virginia had the Hoyas on their heels early in the second half. In a seven-minute span, the squad managed four shots forcing Marcinkowski to come up with three huge saves to keep the score tied at zero.
The Blue & Gray answered in the 71st minute as GU was awarded three corner kicks and junior midfielder Arun Basuljevic (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a shot that was blocked. On the counter, WVU managed two more looks as one was blocked by the Hoya defense and the other was saved by Marcinkowski.
Junior midfielder Declan McCabe (Weston, Mass./The Rivers School) answered back with a great chance in the 77th minute, but that shot was just high to keep it scoreless.
The game changed in the 81st minute when a West Virginia give and go resulted in a shot from the 10-yard mark that snuck in to give the Mountaineers the lead.
Georgetown battled back searching for the equalizer, but couldn’t find the answer eventually falling, 1-0.
The Blue & Gray was outshot, 13-3, but took six corners to WVU’s two. Marcinkowski came up with six saves on the afternoon, but the Georgetown offense failed to force West Virginia keeper Jose Santos to make a save.
The Hoyas will continue their road swing making the short trip to No. 4 Maryland on Friday evening for a local matchup. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network Plus, and live stats will be available at www.GUHoyas.com.
“It’s disappointing not to get a result on the weekend, but it’s still early and we have confidence in our group that we’ll get it right,” said Wiese. “We have a great opportunity to do that on Friday at Maryland, so we won’t have any issues getting back and refocusing immediately.”
