The only teams to go unbeaten through two games of conference play in the East Division faced off on Friday night, as Seton Hall men’s soccer hosted Georgetown University at Owen T. Carroll Field.
Last time out, SHU defeated Marquette University 2-0 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as senior midfielders Hugo Gerbore and Aidan Tisony scored their second and third goals of the year.. With the win, SHU improved to 4-2-3 and are now tied with their opponents, Georgetown, for first place in their division.
The Hoyas entered this game not only tied with the Pirates for first place in the division, but also picked to finish the season as such in the conference’s preseason poll. This comes just a season after they won their sixth BIG EAST Tournament in program history, the most in the conference.
At 6-2-2, Georgetown also entered this game as the 14th-best team in Division I men’s soccer, according to the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll. This makes them the second nationally ranked team SHU has faced so far this season, with the Pirates hosting the University of Penn Quakers last month,who were the 21st-best team in the nation at the time.
Although they started the game with the ball, SHU wouldn’t find their best chance of the half until the 23rd minute. After side-stepping a Georgetown defender on the left wing, senior midfielder Nico Rubio tried a right-footed shot from about 25 yards out. Curling towards the far-post, the shot forced a diving save from Georgetown’s goalkeeper as the Pirates earned their first corner kick of the contest.
No other quality chance like Rubio’s would materialize for either team in the first half, as the Hoyas entered halftime with a 4-to-2 lead in shots and a 3-to-2 lead in shots on goal. Both teams recorded two saves each as the game remained scoreless at halftime.
With Georgetown coming out of halftime far more aggressive than before, the Pirates were forced to play a much more defensive game from the onset of the second half. The Hoyas managed shots on goal early in the second, with midfielders Loukas Maroutsis and Max Viera doing so in the 54th and 56th minutes.
This aggression would last for the rest of the game, as the Hoyas used their talent for short-passing and technical play to get into SHU’s final third multiple times in the second half. At full time, they recorded eight of their 12 total shots in the second half, with seven of those total shots being on goal.
Meanwhile, the Pirates struggled in the second: they did not manage to record a single shot in the second half, and ended the game with their only two shots of the game coming in the first.
Despite being outshot 10-to-2, the Pirates managed to escape with a point against Georgetown as they remain unbeaten in the BIG EAST.
Along with Georgetown’s second-half offensive aggression, the game was also marked by plenty of fouls: at full time, 27 total fouls were recorded between the two teams and five participants in the game (three players, two coaches) received yellow cards. Georgetown’s Mitchell Baker also received a red card in the 88th minute.
One of the coaches who received a yellow card during the game was SHU head coach Andreas Lindberg. After the game, he acknowledged the contrast between his team’s performance in the first and second half.
“In the first half, I think we did really well: it was an even game, we defended well, we kept possession,” Lindberg said. “So at halftime, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves.”
“But in the second half, not so much,” he added. “We were on the backfoot, defending a lot. I was happy with how we were blocking shots and playing for each other, but we were poor on the ball, and we just got our ass kicked in the second.”
Lindberg gave credit to Georgetown for forcing his team to defend more in the second half, while also acknowledging how consistently good the Hoyas have been over the years.
“They’re just such a great team—one of the best in the country over the last ten years,” he said. “You need to be able to keep the ball [against a team like Georgetown], because if you don’t, they just come wave after wave."
"They’re just so good at keeping possession and winning the ball,” he added.
Although a tough game for them, Lindberg focused on the positives in his message to the team: he listed what can be celebrated about the final result, while also using the contrast between the two halves to motivate his players.
“Another shutout in the BIG EAST, which is really massive; we’re sharing the top of the table; and we still have a lot of games ahead of us,” he said. “So everything is in our own hands right now.”
“And I think there’s two things for us to remember after this game,” he added. “One, if we play like we did in the first half, I think we can play against anybody; and two, if we play like we did in the second half, it's going to be really difficult for us to win.”
Now 4-2-4 on the season, the Pirates will return to Owen T. Carroll Field to host Florida International University (FIU) for a non-conference contest on Oct. 7.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
