Sept. 19, 2008

Box Score

Washington, D.C. - The No. 22/NR Georgetown University men's soccer team dropped its second BIG EAST contest of the season Friday with a 2-1 loss to the University of South Florida Bulls (3-1-1, 1-0-0 BIG EAST) at North Kehoe Field. The Hoyas controlled the flow of the game in the first half but gave up a tough score in the second to fall to 5-2-0 on the season and 0-2-0 in BIG EAST play.

The squad came out fired up, controlling the offensive play throughout much of the first half. On one of his first chances of the game, Peter Grasso (Burr Ridge,Ill./Hinsdale Central) poked a quick thru ball to Corey Zeller (Toms River, N.J./Toms River) near the top of the box. Zeller took one step and fired finding the back of the net and putting the Hoyas up 1-0.

"I thought we started well," said Head Coach Brian Wiese. "We deserved a goal and got a goal, I thought we had chances but when you get these chances you have to take advantage of them."

Despite the defense making some outstanding plays to limit Bull advances, USF got on the board late in the first when GU keeper Mark Wilbur (Tijeras, N.M./Albuquerque Acad.) made a diving save but the deflection went right to the feet of Jorge Mora who scored the equalizer.

The Hoyas once again came out strong in the second outshooting the Bulls, 7-3, including a number of neargoals. Midway through half, the ball bounced through the box but no player could get a foot on it as GU couldn't capitalize on offensive opportunities. After controlling play through much of the game, USF surged late in the game and in the 77th minute, found the goal on a shot from Bernardo Anor making the final 2-1.

Georgetown outshot USF 13-8 and took two corner kicks while the Bulls were awarded none in the physical contest that resulted in three total yellow cards on the day. Wilbur had two saves in goal for the Hoyas while Jeff Attinella tallied three for USF.

"I felt and I think the boys felt that we let one slip away today," said Wiese. "I think we had three points sitting there for us and we let it slide."

The Hoyas will have just one day of rest before hosting DePaul on Sunday at North Kehoe Field in another BIG EAST match-up. Kickoff is scheduled for noon. The Blue Demons won the Red Division last year and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.