Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

No. 11 Hoyas Shut Out Pittsburgh

If it wasn’t apparent before, the Hoyas are officially on a roll. The Georgetown men’s soccer team won its fifth straight game, including four in a row in the Big East, with its 2-0 shutout of Pittsburgh on Sunday. With an aggressive tone from kickoff, the Hoyas looked to put the Panthers out early and often. In the first 20 minutes, the Georgetown had multiple scoring opportunities, but missed by inches on all. That is, until junior forward Jason Partenza got a look. With his header in the 12th minute, he scored his third goal in as many games for Georgetown. Senior forward Eric Kvello was again in the middle of the section on the play, as he sent a beautiful cross to freshmen defender Mark Manning in the box. Manning then headed it to Partenza, and the ball found its way into the back of the net off of Partenza’s head. The goal appeared to just whet the palette for the Hoyas, though, as they seemingly became even more intense in their search for a second and definitely back-breaking goal. In the next minute, Kvello received a nice long ball in front of the Panther goal, and out-jumped three Pitt defenders, including the goalie, but the ball went just wide right. Kvello again found himself the recipient of a well-placed pass from junior midfielder Mert Incekara. Incekara hit him with a perfect through ball as he was streaking up the middle of the field, but the ball drifted just right of the goal again. “The first 20 minutes was definitely big for us,” said Georgetown Head Coach Keith Tabatznik. Whenever the Panthers did breakthrough the Hoyas tough defense, junior goalkeeper Tyler Purtill was there to turn them away. In the 34th minute, Pitt defender Jeff Deyer sent a nice cross in the box to Bill Hicks, who sent a nice towards an apparent vacant net, but Purtill hustled over and slapped the ball out of the zone to ensure the Hoyas went into the half with the 1-0 lead after dominating play for the good part of it. The second half featured few scoring opportunities for both teams as the Panthers tried time and time again to break the Hoya defense, but to no luck. Georgetown had some trouble putting the game away themselves, but finally managed to do so in the 84th minute, when once again, Eric Kvello found a Hoya open. This time, Kvello made a great pass to a streaking freshmen Nate Port from the ground and Port volleyed it in to close the door on Pitt. “We were winning 1-0, but feeling a little frustrated, we kept our shape and had a lot of confidence,” Tabatznik said. The win capped off a banner week for the No. 11th ranked Hoyas, as three team members received Big East honors for their [efforts against both West Virginia](https://www.thehoya.com/sports/hoyas-shut-out-mountaineers/) and Pittsburgh. Kvello was named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week, rewarding his four assists over the two games. Although Eric hasn’t scored one since September 20, largely due to the double and triple teams he receives, his ability to find open teammates has helped the Hoyas to no end this year. Purtill, being rewarded for his two shutouts against the Mountaineers and the Panthers, was announced the Co-goalkeeper of the Week. Another milestone was reached by Purtill this week, as he overtook the all-time Georgetown shutout record from with the 14th of his career. Freshmen Nate Port completed the honors roll for Georgetown as he was awarded with Rookie of the Week for his two goals, one against West Virginia and one against Pittsburgh. The Hoyas now play one of the biggest games of the year when they host St. John’s on Friday. The No. 10 ranked Orangemen some into the game second in the Big East, three points ahead of the Hoyas. “It’s a very, very big game, you know, for who wants to be the top seeds in the top seeds. We were the two best teams in the conference for three or four years,” Tabatznik said. “Our confidence is high. The good news is that we’re playing well and the better news is that we can do a lot better,” Tabatznik said. Game time for Georgetown and Syracuse is 3:30 on Friday at Harbin field.

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