No. 5 Georgetown men’s soccer falls to St. John’s, 1-0
WASHINGTON – The No. 5 Georgetown University men’s soccer team suffered a tough loss to the St. John’s University Red Storm (9-6-2, 2-5-2), 1-0, Saturday evening at Belson Field in Queens, N.Y. The Hoyas had opportunities, but couldn’t find a way and fall to 12-4-1 overall and 5-2-1 in BIG EAST Conference play.
The Red Storm possessed the ball for much of the first half, but the Hoyas still had opportunities to look dangerous on offense and the defense stood strong.
In the 18th minute, freshman midfielder Alex Muyl (New York, N.Y./Bard) had an open look on the right side, but it was saved by Rafael Diaz resulting in a pair of Hoya corner kicks.
St. John’s countered and got into good places off of setpieces. Junior goalkeeper Tomas Gomez (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) was forced to make a save in the 22nd minute, and sophomore defender Keegan Rosenberry (Ronks, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) came up with a big block on the Red Storm’s best chance of the half in the 26th minute.
The Red Storm continued to fire, but the Hoya defense handled each attempt. The entire game changed in the 43rd minute on a hard tackle by Danny Bedoya. The sophomore was given a yellow card, but in the scuffle that ensued, Sean Sepe stepped in and was handed a red card for his actions forcing St. John’s to play a man down for the remainder of the contest.
Georgetown controlled the pace for the final minutes, but went into the break in a scoreless tie.
Coming out in the second half, the Blue & Gray controlled the pace and possession. With the Red Storm packed in on defense, there was little space to shoot but the Hoyas found a way.
Muyl continued to look dangerous with a shot in the 65th minute that hit the inside of the far post but ricocheted out. Rosenberry and senior forward Steve Neumann (New Hope, Pa./Council Rock North) all contributed shots as Georgetown looked for the go-ahead goal.
Unfortunately, the go-ahead goal came to St. John’s outside the run of play in the 71st minute. Bedoya got the ball and passed it to Miguel Alves on the left side. Alves took a low shot from 20-yards out that went to the far post and took a hop in front of Gomez. That hop made the difference, redirecting into the goal to put the Red Storm up by one still playing a man down.
Georgetown fought for the equalizer, as a shot by Muyl from the left side in the 80th minute forced Diaz to make a brilliant diving save. Also, a shot by sophomore forward Brandon Allen (Old Bridge, N.J./St. Joseph’s) who had his defender beat went just wide.
As the clock ticked down, the momentum swung to the Red Storm who held on to take down the Hoyas, 1-0, and keep their BIG EAST and NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
The Hoyas were outshot, 10-8, but took six corner kicks to the Red Storm’s four. Gomez tallied four saves in the net, while Diaz managed three and received the victory.
Georgetown will host Villanova in the season finale at Shaw Field on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m.
