Soccer

WASHINGTON – Georgetown (19-3-2) made history on Saturday keeping alive the best season in program history. In front of a sellout crowd at North Kehoe Field, the Blue & Gray defeated the San Diego Toreros (14-9-0) 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament to advance to the first NCAA College Cup in program history.

“This feeling is just awesome,” said Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese. “This postseason has been really interesting for this team since we were expected to get there, being the three seed, but we’ve never done it before. How you manage that dual mentality is really interesting and I’m so proud of them.”

After a quiet first half, the game started at a frantic pace for both sides.

The Toreros got on the board first off of a corner kick in the 49th minute. USD leading scorer Dan Delgado took the kick to the far post and Julian Ringhof got over the rest of the crowd to head it into the top left corner of the net to make it 1-0.

The lead didn’t last long as a foul 45-yards out gave junior forward Steve Neumann a chance at a free kick. He served it high into the box and as a crowd went up for it, the ball was flicked backwards by a San Diego defender and headed into the top right corner of the net for the unlikely equalizer.

The game began to open up after the goals with Georgetown having two huge chances. Freshman forward Brandon Allen crossed it, trying to ricochet into the far right post in the 52nd minute which went just wide and senior forward Andy Riemer had a great chance on the right side that was saved by San Diego keeper Drew Ilijevski.

In the 65th minute the Toreros began to possess. James Cohn took a long shot that went just left, off of a corner kick. GU keeper Tomas Gomez was forced to come up with a huge save on the right side and Connor Brandt had another go wide as the defense was on its heels.

The game changed in the 72nd minute with the lead coming from an unlikely source. Riemer drew a foul a few yards outside of the right corner of the box and Neumann took the restart. He served it perfectly to the far corner and freshman midfielder Melvin Snoh came sliding in from the left side and got a foot on it to send it to the corner of the net to give GU the 2-1 lead as the crowd went wild.

“It was nice to get my first goal in this atmosphere and in front of this crowd,” Snoh said.

USD had two quick chances following the goal, but the Hoyas stayed strong on defense and countered on offense looking for goal number three.

It looked as if that would come in the 85th minute when Neumann had an open net, but the shot went left and the Toreros countered still looking dangerous.

The third goal did come late in the contest as junior forward Gabe Padilla got it started by forcing a USD turnover. He passed it to Neumann at the top of the box who calmly one-touched to Riemer on the left. The senior shot to the left post but the ball ricocheted off. Fortunately, it went back to the foot of Riemer who finished to the middle making the score 3-1 and sealing the victory for the Blue & Gray.

San Diego had the first big chance of the contest in the 22nd minute as Delgado took a free kick from 40-yards out and skimmed the top of the crossbar just going high.

Late in the half, Georgetown began to attack as Riemer had a look at the net as well as one more shot off of a restart that was mishandled by Ilijevski.

The best look came from sophomore midfielder Tom Skelly who had a chance at a poke but went just right.

These chances set the stage for the explosive second half and the 3-1 final.

Georgetown outshot San Diego 12-8, and both squads took five corner kicks. Gomez was awarded the win in the net with two saves, while Ilijevski had three stops on the afternoon.

The Hoyas’ 19 wins this season is also a new program record breaking the previous mark set in 1994.

“We’re just proud to be Hoyas,” said Riemer. “We’re proud to make history and to carry this streak into the [College Cup].”

Soccer

HOOVER, Ala. — Heading into Friday’s national semifinal, Georgetown junior Steve Neumann had seven goals, the lowest season total for him in his three years with the Hoyas.

It’s safe to say he’s back to himself.

Neumann scored three times – including twice in 89 seconds – as Georgetown advanced to Sunday’s national championship match 4-3 on penalty kicks. The Hoyas and Maryland finished tied at four after two overtimes. Neumann also scored one of Georgetown’s penalty-kick goals.

“I had never had a hat trick in college,” Neumann said. “It was a pretty good time to get one, I guess.”

Neumann’s first goal came at 32:11 after a header to center it from Ian Christianson. That tied the game at one. The second, at 33:40 was a long-distance goal which bounced off the post and in from 28 yards out to give the Hoyas a 2-1 advantage, which they held until halftime. The third looked like something out of a video game, as Andy Riemer sprinted from the left side and centered the ball beautifully for Neumann, who slid it to the back of the net to make it 4-2 Hoyas.

It was the first hat trick in the men’s College Cup since Virginia’s Nate Friends did it in 1993 in a 3-1 victory against Princeton.

“You always dream about having big games like that on big stages like this,” Neumann said. “I’m just fortunate enough to have it at this point in the season.”

Neumann’s head coach, Brian Wiese, differed with his player just a little bit.

“He’s not fortunate, he’s good,” Wiese said.

Wiese also admitted to a bit of foreshadowing, although it may have been just a tad off-center.

“He had an unbelievable week of training before the [national quarterfinals] against San Diego,” Wiese said. “I had actually told him the day before [that game] that I thought he may have a hat trick, that he was due for a hat trick.

“He ended up getting two assists and he actually assisted on the own goal, so he actually had three assists,” Wiese said. “So we got that wrong. He actually got the hat trick [Friday].”

For Neumann, who was voted team MVP by his peers last year, the regular season was not a downtime, production-wise. He did have 13 assists heading into Friday’s game, but it was more like something was missing.

“Things just weren’t falling for me early in the year,” Neumann said. “I think I had like two goals in the first 12 games, or something like that. I had a bunch of assists, but I just had to stay with it and then I have a game like this where every shot I take seems to go in.”

But in the end, hat tricks not withstanding, Neumann prefers to think of himself as an offense-starter more than an offensive force.

“As a youth player, I always kind of thought of myself as a playmaker,” Neumann said. “I’ve been setting up [freshman forward] Brandon Allen for a few goals this year,” Neumann said with a smile.

Still, Friday is a night Neumann is not likely to forget.

“I can’t explain the feeling, three goals in the College Cup” Neumann said. “We just came out here to play a game and I guess we gave everyone a show.”

soccer

The United States men's national team ventured into their rivals’ fortress and emerged unscathed, standing firm and earning a 0-0 draw against Mexico, but failing to break the Mexican defense on Tuesday night.

In six previous World Cup qualifiers at the Estadio Azteca, the US had managed to claim just one tie for its efforts. On Tuesday, it earned a second one, worth an invaluable point in the final round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

In this most heated of rivalries, brimming with slights to avenge, the US showed up stout of heart, battling and grinding their way to an unlikely draw.

“We’re very pleased,” said head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. “We had a lot of challenges over the last ten days with injuries and players being unavailable team effort. They put us under a lot of pressure but we managed to take everything they had.”

It was their second nervy result in five days, and a shock after the team had appeared to have reached its nadir after a Sporting News expose revealed a sizable part of the team disliked its coach, the experimental Jurgen Klinsmann. Instead, the Americans took the report as an occasion to rally, and followed up a snowbound 1-0 win over Costa Rica in Denver with a defense-first showing south of the border.

I’m so proud of the boys today because I don’t think people realize how hard a place this is to play,” said forward Herculez Gomez. “A hundred thousand people who would love nothing more than to see you get beat down. We came in and we showed that team unity in spite of what’s happened in the last week.”

The Americans did so in the most daunting of environments. A deafening hum of horns and the screech of whistles rained down from 100,000 Mexican fans, mostly drowning out the 500 brazen Americans who had traveled. That, aligned with the altitude and the knowledge that the US has never won a competitive game in this stadium, conspired to break the American spirit. So prone are the Mexico fans in the lower bowl – who reportedly paid a princely $150 to sit there – to throw all kinds of liquids and projectiles at the hated gringos, that a line of riot police and their shields had to protect the Americans from bodily harm.

The Americans had vowed to take the game to Mexico all the same. The US delivered a clear statement of intent by refusing to relinquish the ball for the first three and a half minutes of the game. They weren’t going to just sit back, as they often have. But Mexico’s superior craftsmanship soon became apparent, as El Tri found acres of space behind the American midfield on the counter-attack. American defenders DaMarcus Beasley and Matt Besler were then forced to upend these attacks outside the laws of the game, earning them early yellow cards.

Mexico crafted a pair of good chances for Javier Hernandez and a wide-open header for Jesus Zavala. But wave after wave of Mexican attacks were stranded on this unorthodox American beach-head, composed of defenders who were either inexperienced, playing out of position and a backup goalkeeper in Brad Guzan. Yet however tenuous its grip, it withstood, thanks in part to some shoddy Mexican work in putting the finishing touch on their attack.

Towards the end of the half, the emboldened Americans started to find some room to push forward of their own, deftly combining through the middle, where previously only long balls and the occasional corner had gotten them into Mexico’s half, to little effect. This yielded no significant shots though, as their sloppiness on the ball persisted.

The US put no more pressure on Guillermo Ochoa’s goal in the second half. But its defense settled down, keeping the box clean for long stretches. It slowly grew apparent from Mexico’s mounting frustration that there was a result to be had here, in this blood-thirsty cauldron.

The US slowed the game down where it could, trying to keep the ball in its own half and venturing out only when the occasional chance for a quick breakaway presented itself. If this ploy lacked ambition, that was okay. It neutralized Mexico’s inherent technical advantage, which can rip a team apart if left unfettered.

n the 75th minute, when Javier Aquino crashed to earth in the box, Mexico desperately pleaded with the referee for a penalty as detritus rained down on the field from the stands. But the US survived that scare too and continued its gritty, determined slog towards the liberation and point the final whistle promised.

“We tried to keep everything in front of us tonight,” said defender Geoff Cameron. “I think we did a fantastic job and it was a collective effort.”

As the final minutes ticked down, Mexico’s manager Jose Manuel de La Torre – who was already under fire from the Mexican media before this game kicked off– made his desperation apparent, gesticulating wildly on the sideline. It did him and his charges no good, as a late barrage yielded no winner. 0-0 it ended. Beer and boos rained down in equal measure.

“This is still a team that when big moments come and the spotlight comes on brightest that’s something that we relish,” said midfielder Michael Bradley. “There’s a lot to be proud of.”

The American performance may have been lacking aesthetically, but to take any more risks than they did against such ball virtuosos would have been foolhardy. They played it right and got the spoils as their reward.

Because at the Azteca, a draw is as good as a win.

Soccer

PANAMA CITY, Panama (April 14, 2013) – The U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team lost 3-1 to Honduras in the quarterfinals of the 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship on Sunday. The loss eliminated the USA from qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

The U-17 MNT nearly took the lead in the third minute on a corner kick from midfielder Joel Soñora. Defender Shaquell Moore rose above everybody and his downward header was on target, but cleared off the line by a Honduras defender.

The USA fashioned another superb chance in the 13th minute, with Soñora dancing into the area after a flowing move. He sidestepped his man before trying to poke a shot past onrushing goalkeeper Christian Hernandez, who did well to block the effort.

Honduras grew into the game and generated their first dangerous chance in the 26th minute. Brayan Velazquez latched onto a ball over the top, holding off defender John Requejo, Jr. to get into the area. U.S. goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell came up big with a brave and vital save, springing off his line to smother the shot.

In the 42nd minute, Honduras took the lead. Alvaro Romero collected the ball from a throw in before squaring it for Christopher Alegria, who wound up a full 30 yards from goal to hit a sizzling drive that Caldwell got a hand to, but failed to keep out of the net.

The USA's response was instant, however, with Soñora grabbing the equalizer. Fed by midfielder Christopher Lema, Soñora dribbled and cut in from the left, where he let fly with a shot that flew past Hernandez to tie the score at 1-1 heading into the break.

Honduras reclaimed the lead early in the second half as goalscorer Velazquez turned provider, threading a beautiful pass that deceived the U.S. defense. Alberto Elis timed his run to perfection at the far post to latch on to the ball and poke it past a stranded Caldwell from five yards out in the 57th minute.

Eleven minutes later Honduras doubled their lead off a free kick. Kevin Alvarez struck his shot perfectly, curling the ball over the wall from 23 yards and past Caldwell who was helpless to keep out the world-class effort.

The USA tried to get back into the match, and generated a few chances against an increasingly defensive Honduras side but was unable to pull one back.

The best effort came in the 86^th minute when Moore put a shot just wide after a goalmouth scramble. In extra time, Conor Donovan rolled his shot wide of the mark as well.