Georgetown men return to winning, down first Big East opponent

The No. 22/NR Georgetown University men’s soccer team got back on track Sunday with a 1-0 win over the DePaul University Blue Demons (2-3-2, 1-1-0 BIG EAST) at North Kehoe Field. The Hoyas scored in the fourth minute and managed to hold on to get the win and the squad’s first BIG EAST victory of the season. Georgetown is now 6-2-0 overall and 1-2-0 in BIG EAST play.

GU’s goal came early on when a serve into the box was kicked out by the Blue Demon defense but the ball went to sophomore Seth C’deBaca (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia Prep) who fired at the net and caught the keeper off guard to make it 1-0.

“A lot of our most dangerous play was coming through him (Seth C’deBaca) today,” said Head Coach Brian Wiese. “He took the loss to USF to heart and came out and made sure we didn’t lose again today. What a terrific finish on the goal, that’s something he’s able to do. He’s perfectly capable of getting assist or scoring goals for us.”

The Hoya defense then stepped it up a notch to hold on to the lead for the remainder of the half. After 45 minutes of play, both teams tallied six shots on goal and GU was awarded three corner kicks.

Despite few substitutions, the Blue Demons had some good opportunities on offense in the second half but keeper Matthew Brutto (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) managed to stop both shots on goal for a total of five on the day. The Hoya offense was still on point in the second with one series of five corner kicks and four shots in just two minutes midway through, but couldn’t connect. DePaul began firing late but the Hoyas staved off every attack to hold on for the 1-0 final.

DePaul finished with 15 shots to Georgetown’s 14 for the day but the Hoyas attempted 10 corner kicks to the Blue Demons’ one. The win marks GU’s first in BIG EAST play and was needed after a small two-game slide. The goal was the first that the DePaul defense had allowed in over 316 minutes of play.

“This was a huge, huge win for us,” said Wiese. “We just took two hard losses, two close games and just to get the boys back into the winning habit before we hit the road. It was a home game and BIG EAST games are hard enough as it is so we wanted to get off on the right foot before our road games.”

Georgetown will have the week off before gearing up for another Friday/Sunday BIG EAST series. The squad will travel to Rutgers on Friday to face the Scarlet Knights at 8 p.m., in its first night game of the season. The game will be the first of three on the road for the Hoyas.

2008 Georgetown Men's Soccer
DePaul vs Georgetown (Sep 21, 2008 at Washington DC)
DePaul 0
Georgetown 1
Date: Sep 21, 2008
Attendance: 653
Weather: 70s sunny
Goals: GU C'DeBaca (3:13) - unassisted
Cautions and ejections: YC-GU Diggs (26:13); YC-GU Zeman (70:24)
Officials: Referee: Nate Clement; Asst. Referee: Williams Paul; Robert Zach; Alt. Official: John Schmidt; Scorer: Simon A. Nurse;
Offsides: DePaul 1, Georgetown 2.