Men's Soccer Friendlies: Maryland

[HoyaSinceBirth]

This saturday at 7:30 the Georgetown University Men's soccer Team will be taking on the Defending National champion Maryland Terrapins at the Maryland Soccer Plex in Gaithrusburg Maryland. If anyone would like to come out and get an early glimpse of the Hoyas and see some good local soccer action come on up. It's really not that far about 30 minutes outside of DC. The team is looking very good this year as the freshman and transfers look like they will make an immediate impact.

directions can be found here:
www.mdsoccerplex.org/soccerplex/Directions/index_E.html

[Bahstin]

There is nothing Friendly about a game against Maryland.

[g2]

I thought it was called an exhibition. when did this change?

[RBHoya]

I believe "friendlies" are what they call soccer exhibitions, probably a term originally from the other side of the pond. Not that I really know.

Anyway, I hope they do better than they did last year. UMCP obviously has a hell of a team, so if we can keep stay in the match and have it be a close one, I'd consider that to be a very good sign in itself.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

So I just got back from the game. It was a very entertaining game. The Hoyas held their own with the defending national champions and secured a 0-0 tie. Now it is just a scrimmage so a lot more subs are used than normal but it was still a very promising result. I'll post a larger write up and stats later.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

Starting from the beginning there were a lot more people at this game than i expected. There were about 200 people in attendance. Of course all but about 20 of those were Maryland supporters. i was pleasantly surprised with the Hoya turn out ok sure it was all parents and family members but it was a lot better than nothing.

Maryland had most of the run of play for the first half. Georgetown looked good defensively but was lacking on offense. The ref called a ridiculous penalty kick against Georgetown. The players were just going up for a header in the corner of the 18 yard box and inexplicably a PK was called. On the shot Keszler read the shooter and guessed the right way but the Maryland player hit the cross bar anyway. This was only the beginning of Maryland’s shooting woes. They had most of the possession in the first and had several shots but only managed to get one slow roller on target. Georgetown only managed a few counter attacks and didn’t have much build up but did connect for a few good sequences.

The second half saw the Hoyas come out with a lot more confidence and take the game to Maryland much more. The Hoyas had a lot more scoring opportunities in the second half and had the better run of play. The ref pulled another bull move by allowing Maryland to continue attacking after the clock had stopped even though there is no stoppage time in college soccer.

The New players all looked very good out there. The two Vanderbilt kids look like they will be great contributors, especially when played in tandem since they’re already used to palying with each other so they can anticiapate each other. The other freshman who I was really impressed with was Scott Larrabee. He did great on the wing and provided many great balls. Returning players Cory Zeller and Peter Grasso seem to have greatly improved their game.

I think this game showed great promise for this season. I think it was really smart to schedule these tough scrimmages against top schools like Maryland and Virginia (Coming up on Wednesday). The team seems much more organized and motivated under coach Wiese’s direction. Look for big things from the Hoyas this year.

Starting Line up: (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Andrew Keszler (Sr)
Defense(R to L): Richard Diaz (Jr), Tim Convey (Sr), Alex Pangraze (So), and Alex Fairman (So)
Midfield(R to L) Conor Neusel (So. Vandy), Brian Mascarenhas (So. Vandy), Dan Grasso (Sr), Richard Frank (So)
Forward: Ben Jefferson Dow (Sr), Ricky Schramm (Sr)

1rst half Subs:
Mark Zeman (Fr) for Alex Fairman
Cory Zeller (So) for Richard Frank
Peter Grasso (So) for Brian Mascarenhas

Start of 2nd half:
Joe Devine (Jr) for Andrew Keszler
Mike Glaccum (Jr) for Ben Jefferson Dow
Len Coleman (Fr) for Alex Pangraze
Richard Frank for Conor Neusel
Scott Larrabee for Dan Grasso

2nd half subs:
Sean Bellomy (So) for Mark Zeman
Dan Grasso for Tim Convey
Ben Jefferson Dow for Richard Frank
Justin Kondos (Fr) for Ricky Schramm
Conor Neusel for Scott Larrabee

1st half Stats:
Georgetown Maryland
Shots: 1 7
Shots on Goal: 0 1
Saves: 1 0
Corners: 2 3
Offsides: 1 1
Fouls: 5 3
Cards: 1 Yellow 0

2nd half Stats:
Georgetown Maryland
Shots: 3 5
Shots on Goal: 2 3
Saves: 3 2
Corners: 2 3
Offsides: 2 0
Fouls: 1 5
Cards: 0 0


Total Stats:
Georgetown Maryland
Shots: 4 12
Shots on Goal: 3 4
Saves: 4 2
Corners: 4 6
Offsides: 3 1
Fouls: 7 8
Cards: 1 0

[HoyaSinceBirth]

Here's a quote from a Maryland fan from a College soccer message board as tot he Hoyas prospects after watching the scrimmage: "I think G-town may be ok. They have some experienced players, who have some talent. With a couple of transfers in, and some freshmen that have some talent. I don't think they're in contention for the Big East Championship given CT, SJ, etc., however, they might make the NCAA."