If showing that they were worthy of being considered one of the best teams in the nation was the goal for the Georgetown Hoyas on Wednesday afternoon, they managed to accomplish that with an impressive showing against the top team in the nation.
Unfortunately for the Hoyas, UConn and goalkeeper Andre Blake also showed us why they are worthy of being called the best team in college soccer.
UConn capitalized on some Georgetown blunders, and rode a standout seven-save effort from Blake, to post a 2-1 victory against the Hoyas, ranked No. 3 in the SBI Top 25.
The No. 1 Huskies came out flat in the first half and looked poised for their first loss of the season, but Georgetown couldn't figure out a way to get a shot past Blake, widely regarded as the best goalkeeper in the nation. Blake made six of his seven saves in the first half.
Mamadou Diouf opened the scoring with a 39th-minute free kick that appeared to catch Georgetown by surprise. Allando Matheson headed home a Flo Liuat cross in the 64th minute to make it 2-0 UConn, but the Hoyas responded just two minutes later when Andy Riemer slotted one past Blake.
In other Wednesday action, No. 20 High Point saw their perfect record tarnished in a scoreless draw against VMI, Bradley posted a 3-1 upset of No. 19 Northwestern and No. 23 SMU edged No. 25 Tulsa, 1-0, in the day's other clash of ranked teams.
Here is a full rundown of Wednesday's top college soccer matches:
WEDNESDAY COLLEGE SOCCER SCORES
(3) Georgetown 1 (1) UConn 2. (RECAP)
(9) Notre Dame 7, Pittsburgh 1. (RECAP)
(11) Old Dominion 0, James Madison 0, 2OT. (RECAP)
(12) St. John’s 0, Villanova 0, 2OT. (RECAP)
Kentucky 1, (14) Indiana 4. (RECAP)
Bradley 3, (19) Northwestern 1. (RECAP)
(20) High Point 0, VMI 0, 2OT. (RECAP)
(23) SMU 1, (25) Tulsa 0. (RECAP)
Cincinnati 0, South Florida 0. (RECAP)
Louisville 3 DePaul 0. (RECAP)
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What do you think of these results? Convinced UConn is the best team in the nation, or think Maryland deserves the label? Impressed with Georgetown's performance? Think they can beat UConn in a rematch?
Share your thoughts below.
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I mean, you know my feelings. UConn played a 4-1-4-1 in the first half and looked kind of lost. I was really impressed with Georgetown, but their finishing was abysmal — and it shows… I have their offense ranked pretty low. I thought UConn looked really impressive going forward on counterattacks, but they had nothing in the defensive midfield to stop Georgetown’s attack, and their centerbacks looked out of place for much of the first half.
UConn’s first goal was a mess, and probably should’ve been disallowed, but it’s all they really needed to win. I assume UConn is much more comfortable playing with the lead, because they controlled the game afterwards. They played more of a 4-2-3-1 until they switched to a 4-4-1-1 late in the game, which helped stifle Georgetown’s attack, and they have enough talent up top to put real pressure on weaker defenses without committing numbers forward. GTown was pretty stout in defense until a lapse of concentration for about a minute lead to UConn’s second goal, after which it should’ve been over (two open net chances missed?).
It’s always tough to win on the road, but I think Connecticut is going to have a lot of issues playing from behind, which they have yet to do this year. If Georgetown had been able to capitalize on one of their early chances, I think they would’ve won. I’ve seen Maryland overcome substantial deficits in person — they have more attacking talent without a doubt, but don’t have an Andre Blake. I think they are pretty similar in terms of defensive capabilities. At this point, I think it’s a wash, although it pains me to say it.
I think Georgetown is a middling (#8-#15) squad that benefited from their home field.
High Point’s box score is hilarious.
The scarier part is that it’s a crew that apparently does MLS games, too… surprise, surprise.
Neither UConn goal should’ve stood, actually. Handball that gave them the 39th-minute free kick hit Parsa’s shoulder, first off, then someone on the Huskies asked for 10, Gtown was setting up its wall and Diouf just shot it. A Connecticut attacker blatantly ran into Parsa on the second goal as well. Horrible officiating throughout.