Oct. 2, 2008

Washington, D.C. - Well Hoyas fans we are back for our second installment of the Georgetown Men's Soccer Blog.

First of all I would just like to extend thanks from the team to everyone that came out to support us this past weekend, it was great to see friends, family, and alumni at the games even with the unfortunate weather.

Let's start with a recap of very exciting and very wet weekend that the guys spent up north. We left Thursday afternoon at the perfect time to catch DC's world famous traffic. I will save you all the details of the bus ride which a included a mediocre choice of movie by Coach Zach Samol.

If you have never suited up for a Friday night game under the lights it's hard to described the feeling, but you could tell from the attitude across the team that the Hoyas were ready for battle. The setting was perfect a light mist seemed to come off the field as warm-ups began. Hometown boys Corey Zeller and Len Coleman were literally foaming at the mouth with the chance to put on a show and their teammates would not disappoint.

Rain, the theme of the weekend, had its part to play in the game as the first minute featured no less than three Hoyas hitting the turf. Much to the enjoyment of the crowd, I was the first to hit, followed shortly after by Seth C'deBaca and not wanting to miss out on the fun, Mostafa Ebrehemnijad would conclude the show as went he lost his footing but still managed to head ball from a fallen position.

Fortunately we were able to quickly forget those memories when Robert Burnett smashed Mark Zemen's nearpost corner kick into the net. From that point on, the first half continued at a rigorous pace with both teams having space to run at the defenses. The second half saw much more physical play but it also saw some controversial calls. Rutgers was awarded literally back to back free kicks only five yards from our box, on their second attempt a deflection would send the ball into the our net. Later in the half the Hoyas were hit with another blow, a penalty kick was given to the Scarlet Knights. While frustrated at the call, the Hoyas didn't lose their mental focus, and an intimidating stare from Mark Wilbur was enough to intimidate the kicker to push the ball way over the net. The Hoyas took this moment and pushed forward, though overtime was needed senior forward Peter Grasso made sure they Hoyas would walk off the field with three points when he buried home Mark Zemen's second assist of the day.

Perhaps the best part about the goal was the celebration that was to follow, as the Hoya bench cleared and the field players chased after Grasso, he went down on his knees for a celebratory slide. For no apparent reason Ben Slingerland felt he should do the same as he ran towards him. The collision that ensued was glorious, as Slingerland's forehead was knocked out by Grasso's chin.

Though we knew Sunday's game would not be under the lights, the Hoyas were ready for the tough Big East showdown at Villanova. As I had said before, rain would be a major factor is this game as the air was humid and the field was thick and slow. The rain would eventually be deemed the winner as it forced a 0-0 draw before the overtime could be played. Even though the guys would have wanted to come away with three points many had said that the rain had made it "fun and unpredictable." Of course you can understand why Coach Samol wold have a problem with that. Overall the weekend was a success, the Hoyas whose new record is 7-2-1 showed that they could go into two hostile environments with tough weather and still earn Big East points.