The Best of Hoya Sports: GU Soccer Upsets Nova

The Hoyas’ 2004 Big East quarterfinal was one of the most nerve-wracking games in the history of Georgetown soccer. Though it started on a Saturday morning in suburban Philadelphia, the penalty box would prove to be the real site of the game.

No. 4 Villanova (7-5-6, 5-3-3 Big East) and No. 5 Georgetown (11-7-2, 5-4-2 Big East) were vying for the chance to head to the Big East semifinals against No. 21 Seton Hall, a team the Hoyas had downed 4-0 to secure their spot in the tournament.

Those Hoyas, unable to qualify for the tournament the previous year, were one game away from their fourth tournament final.

From the beginning, the game was expected to be as close as a grudge matches could be. Georgetown and Villanova had squared off in the regular season for a tight, 2-1 Wildcat win, but a large crowd of Georgetown supporters did its best to combat Villanova’s home-field advantage and ensure a different result this time around.

The first half’s biggest play came 17 minutes into the game, when Georgetown’s sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Keszler saved the day by deflecting a tough shot to keep the score locked at zero.

“Andrew Keszler made the save in regulation. That won the game for us,” Georgetown Head Coach Keith Tabatznik told THE HOYA at the time.

Each side had its opportunities, yet neither was able to pull through and take the lead. The first half ended with a blank scoreboard and a crowd teeming with anticipation.

The Hoyas stepped up their game in the second half. Focus and perseverance paid off in the 70th minute, when senior forward Brent Plumley shook off a defender and nailed the bottom corner of the goal for the first score.

“We certainly had a great second half,” Tabatznik said. “I thought we deserved to win the game outright in the second half. We battled hard, we were very tired, and the guys battled harder.”

But the Wildcats returned the favor shortly thereafter, when in the 79th minute freshman midfielder Dan DeMasters put the ball past Keszler to even the score.

The clock would end up ticking away for a grueling 90 minutes, as the Hoyas and Wildcats searched unsuccessfully for that key play which would cement their entrance into the next round of competition.

After a grueling 20 more, the teams were deadlocked at one. After a scoreless double overtime, it was clear the game would be decided in the penalty box.

The shootout began with the Hoyas’ junior midfielder Danny McAnally shooting left of the goal. Without a goal to his name, McAnally was forced to watch helplessly as his opponent attempted a shot of his own.

Yet Villanova found no reason to rejoice. The Wildcat try bounced off the post, leaving the scoreless.

The Hoyas would not miss again. They netted the next three shots, while Villanova knocked only two past Keszler. The Wildcats’ third attempt came off the foot of senior defender Chris Edgar, but sailed well beyond the crossbar and ended the shootout in Georgetown’s favor.

“It obviously couldn’t get closer than that and it was not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination,” Tabatznik told THE HOYA.

THE HOYA called the finish “a fittingly tense, if disappointingly curt, way to end a matchup that had ground on for 110 minutes. In the end the Georgetown men’s soccer team found the goal one extra time, and that was all they needed to survive.”

Many Hoya faithful expected the classic finish to guarantee the Hilltop squad a spot in the finals, yet Georgetown would, in fact, be knocked out by Seton Hall in a tense 1-0 upset.

The 2004 match was not the end of hard-fought Georgetown-Villanova contests. A year later it was deja vu all over again, as Georgetown knocked Villanova out of the 2005 quarterfinals with a 3-0 victory on penalty kicks.

It just might be the games like these that make new classics on the Hilltop, and give the Georgetown students of the 21st century something to remember of Hoya athletics.