September 5, 2014
FALL SPORTS PREVIEW football • cross-country • sailing • women's soccer men's soccer • field hockey • volleyball
2 | FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014
FOOTBALL
Seniors TRY to Revive 2011 Magic NADAV SENENSIEB
HEAD COACH ROB SGARLATA
Hoya Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
Entering the 2014 season, the Georgetown football team (0-1) finds itself searching for just its second winning season in 15 years. The team, which eked out two victories last season, aims to replicate the 2011 campaign — one bright spot in this extended malaise. That year, led by a strong senior class, the Hoyas finished 8-3 overall with a 4-2 record in the Patriot League, good for a second-place finish. Leading the way in 2014 is a solid crop of seniors, who also happen to be the last remaining players on the roster from the magical 2011 season. “I think that [2011] team had a good core group of seniors who gave really good senior leadership, and those were guys who had gone through some ups and downs. They went through an 0-11 season and a couple more bad seasons,” senior linebacker and team captain Nick Alfieri said. “So that group when we were freshmen was a bunch of seniors who had stuck it out.” The current senior class is facing a similar situation now, coming off of two hard seasons and attempting to once again pull off a successful one. To do that, the senior class will have to provide strong leadership on and off the field, something in which new Head Coach Rob Sgarlata (COL ’94) is very confident. “A lot of our seniors, if you look at their history, are very talented and as such, there were either injuries or they were better than the kids we had, so they played a lot as freshmen and sophomores. I think one of the biggest words you have is ‘experience,’ especially on
SENIOR LINEBACKER NICK ALFIERI
CLAIRE SOISSON/THE HOYA
defense,” Sgarlata, last year’s defensive coordinator, said. “And we brought in about 30 freshmen [this year]. I think our seniors did a great job of introducing those kids to campus and to the way we do things and to be honest the transition was a lot smoother than I thought it was going to be.” The similarities between this year’s team and the one from 2011 have not gone unnoticed, as both years featured a strong senior class. “This year we have, I think, 20 seniors and I’m feeling a similarity between that year and this year with a bunch of guys, all of who might not necessarily contribute on the field but will still be positive influences on the team,” Alfieri said. “And there are a bunch of guys like that. So I think that was a big factor in that season and I hope it can be in this season too.” Senior defensive lineman Alec May concurred with Alfieri’s assessment of the strong upperclassman presence that will guide the team this year. “In 2011, we had David Quintero (MSB ’12), who was a senior, come and talk to us before the first game,” May said. “The one thing he said was that the reason he felt so confident his senior year was that he could look down the bench on defense and know there’s a bunch of guys that he trusts and wouldn’t get flustered and were going to go out there and give their all. When I look down the bench this year I see the same exact thing with a lot of my buddies and the other seniors who I’ve been through a lot with.” Along with Alfieri, May hopes for a repeat of 2011. Despite last Saturday’s 21-3 loss in the home opener against Wagner, May’s season got off to a great start, totaling three tackles for loss and two sacks in a performance that earned him a Patriot League weekly honorable mention. But May is looking for more than just individual accomplishments this season. “We’re just focused on the team right now, we want to win a Patriot League championship,” May said. “I mean for me in my football career, both at Georgetown and in high school, I’ve been a part of really good teams but we’ve always been kind of one game away from winning it. So I want to finish it this year. I think we have the talent to win the Patriot League.” Now Alfieri, May and the rest of their class are looking to finish the task they came so close to achieving in 2011 — winning that title. With the memory of 2011 still fresh in their minds, they are willing to do anything to replicate it. “That’s the ultimate goal, to win a Patriot League championship,” Alfieri said. “Whatever we can do on the field as contributors, motivators and leaders is what we want to do to reach that ultimate goal.”
THE HOYA | 3
Defense Leads Team, Offense A Weakness daniel litke
Special to The Hoya
After a busy offseason for Georgetown football, the team (0-1) appears to have solidified its defensive-minded identity. Former defensive coordinator Rob Sgarlata (COL ’94) took over as head coach and the talented veteran defensive core he worked with before has largely remained intact. Offensively, however, he inherits a team adjusting to major departures and new faces. Sgarlata anticipates having a cohesive defense that boasts experience and talent. Defensive end Alec May and defensive tackle Jordan Richardson are entering their senior seasons having already collected all-Patriot League honors. While leading the team in tackles, with 98 and 92, respectively, senior linebackers Patrick Boyle and Nick Alfieri are also returning to round out a veteran defense. May expressed high expectations and excitement over this year’s defensive squad.
“I think defensively this is probably the deepest team I’ve been a part of here at Georgetown,” May said. “I think there’s good chemistry up front, everybody knows how to work together and play together.” While Sgarlata has the benefit of continuing the development of an experienced defensive squad, questions remain about to the offense, as the Hoyas lost key offensive contributors to graduation. Running back Nick Campanella, who led the team in rushing last year, and wide receiver Zack Wilke, who led the Hoyas in receptions last year, are two of the biggest forces the Hoyas will be tasked with replacing. Sgarlata downplayed concerns about his ability to coach the depleted offensive unit. “I was lucky earlier in my career; I was asked to coach a lot of different spots, to be honest. I’ve coached tight ends, quarterbacks and receivers for about eight years under some really good coaches,” Sgarlata said. “I feel really comfortable.” Sgarlata’s first move as head coach was
SENIOR LINEBACKER Patrick Boyle
bringing in Michael Nueberger, a former wide receivers coach at Cornell, to serve as offensive coordinator. With the loss of key players, Sgarlata and Nueberger are working on designing an offense tailored to the skill sets of their returning players. Sgarlata said that just as he and former Head Coach Kevin Kelly arranged changes in the defensive scheme to fit their current playmakers, the same approach would be used on offense. “We looked at it as if you had a 70-play game, who you want to touch the football and then we went backward and figured out what we wanted to run based on that instead of trying to fit the talent we had into the scheme we wanted to run,” Sgarlata said. Despite the coaching changes, the offense struggled in the season opener against Wagner. The Hoyas managed only a field goal in their 21-3 loss. However, Sgarlata remains confident in his team. “It’s a pretty deep group, skill-wise,” he
said, citing junior running back Jo’el Kimpela and junior quarterback Kyle Nolan, two high-potential players assuming major roles this season. Sgarlata has been working frequently with Nolan, who is entering his first full season as a starter, and the new starters. This hands-on approach has garnered praise from Nolan and his teammates. “I feel like the energy has changed a little bit with the new head coach. [Sgarlata] came in, did a good job meeting everybody. You know, he’s a player’s coach; he does a good job with interacting with all of us and trying to figure out what works best,” Nolan said. Sgarlata’s experience with the Hoyas’ tested and talented defensive squad shows that he is no stranger to team development and success. With his vote of confidence among the current team leaders, he will have an opportunity to replicate that success as he works to develop an offensive core.
Junior QUARTERBACK kyle Nolan
FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
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CROSS COUNTRY
XC Squads Set To Jump Off Block Madeline Auerbach Hoya Staff Writer
Next Saturday, the Georgetown crosscountry program will officially kick off its season at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational in State College, Pa. In recent years, the opening meet has failed to be an accurate indicator for how the teams will fare over the course of the season. Last season, the men placed first out of nine teams at the Navy Invitational, while the women placed first out of five teams at the Dartmouth Invitational. The men finished the season unranked, while the women finished fifth in the nation. Then-senior Brian King led the Hoyas at the Navy Invitational with Andrew Springer finishing at a close second. Springer, who graduated last May, represented a core aspect of the Georgetown men’s cross-country program. Without Springer on the roster, the 29th-ranked Georgetown men have a new set of goals for the 2014 journey. “Andrew was a two-time All-American and definitely someone we’re going to miss,” Men’s Assistant Coach Brandon Bonsey said. “We have a lot of young talent and guys who have put in a lot of hard work the last couple years and over the summer who can step in and fill Andrew’s shoes” Though the Georgetown men’s team did not make an appearance at the NCAA championships last year, Springer competed at the individual level and placed 13th overall in the 10,000-meter race. Failing to qualify for the NCAA championships as a team drives the Hoyas to begin the season with a competitive nature in 2014. “We did not have a good cross-country season last fall and we’ve been talking about redeeming ourselves for a full year at this point,” Bonsey said. “We want to set the tone even from Penn State that we’re going to run hard and compete really hard.” On the fifth-ranked women’s side, key returning upperclassmen athletes include graduate student Madeline Chambers, seniors Katrina Coogan, Annamarie Maag and junior Samantha Nadel. As team leaders, these upperclassmen will be tasked with forging a true team-like mentality. “People focus a lot less on individual goals and think more like, ‘How can I contribute to the team’s score,’” Coogan said. “I just want to help out the team as much as I can. There are a lot of really
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good teams who we’re going to race but we definitely have a shot.” An impressive freshman class will contribute to the team’s depth and strengthen the already impressive group of distance runners. “Our team is really deep — we’re probably one of the deepest teams in the country,” Coogan said. “It’ll depend on who steps up and if everyone’s healthy, but overall I think we’ll have another really strong team like we did last year.” Women’s Head Coach Michael Smith said that freshmen Autumn Eastman, Kennedy Weisner and Madeline Perez will all compete in distance events for Georgetown. Although the three freshmen won notable races and titles in their high school careers, Smith knows that racing at the collegiate level will be a new challenge. “They absolutely have the ability to step in and run at the level that is in Division I running, but the question is whether they’ll be able to do that as freshmen, and that I don’t know,” Smith said. Currently ranked in the top10 nationally, the Georgetown women’s team looks on track to reach the level of success it did last season, when it placed fifth at the NCAA championships. In the short term, its focus is training and improvement. “We’ve got a shot at doing great things at the national level in November, but in the short term we’re just focused on getting better,” Smith said. “We’re a team with a lot of potential, but right now, today, we’re certainly not ready to race the top teams in the country.” Some of those top teams are in the Big East, as defending NCAA champion Providence is a formidable foe for the Georgetown women. The Georgetown men will focus on Villanova, the 10th-ranked team in the country. Demanding conditioning programs are the modus operandi at this stage of preparation for Big East play. “Right now, the focus is on training and getting better each day and moving forward in the process,” Smith said. The men’s and women’s teams are ready to exceed expectations that predict both squads to contend for championships at the conference and national levels. “It’s a very interesting season,” Bonsey added. “We have high expectations but we’re also relying on a bunch of guys who are very unproven in cross-country. I’m very confident that talent will win out.”
national ranking for women's xc team
JUNIOR SAMANTHA NADEL
SENIOR KATRINA COOGAN
GU HOYAS
GRADUATE STUDENT BRIAN KING
GU HOYAS
GU HOYAS
JUNIOR DARREN FAHY
GU HOYAS
THE HOYA | 5
sailing
Recent Wins Buoy New Ambitions matt raab
Hoya Staff Writer
Qualifying for all three spring national championships, a win at the World University Championships in Italy and three AllAmericans: These are a few of the Georgetown sailing team’s accomplishments in the past year that the 2014 squad will hope to replicate. These top national and world finishes came after stellar performances in fall national and conference competitions, including a win at Singlehanded Nationals by junior Greg Martinez and a win at Match Race Nationals. Still, 2014 promises to be yet another impressive year. With a roster bolstered by freshmen and the return of the most successful of last year’s athletes, the Blue and Gray believe they have a chance to repeat or even exceed the high bar they have set for themselves in the past. “Our senior class last year was pretty small and our freshman class this year is quite huge, 11 freshman and a couple people returning from a year off,” junior captain and All-American Nevin Snow said. “So the team composition is about as deep as the team has been since I’ve been on the team my freshman year.” The loss of seniors brought some inevitable changes to leadership on the team, but the Hoyas were able to preserve much of their starting roster. “We certainly graduated some really good sailors, strong team players last year … so that was a big loss,” Head Coach Mike Callahan said. “But our stars on the coed side are all underclassmen so this year we returned each of them; I think they’ll be a little bit better so we’re excited for that.” Snow, part of the team that brought home a victory at the World University Championships in Italy over the summer, is among this group of Hoyas that has the opportunity to both pursue further success and mentor future team leaders. The fall season will provide a chance to hone individual skills, and find out who among the newcomers will contribute to the team this season. “For a lot of us, it’s pretty full-on with a lot of individual practicing on the weekends and a lot of specialized events,” Snow said. “As a captain, I’m there and not really enforcing the fact that I want to practice for my individual events but trying to help the freshmen feel welcome on the team so right now it’s a lot of team building stuff.” In addition to the coed side returning its entire starting roster, the women’s squad returns several key components of its team who hope to lead the Hoyas to a higher overall finish. “We have a lot of really strong sailors for freshmen,” Callahan said of the women. “We
finished 16th last year [nationally] in women’s and we really want to do better than that this year, and we certainly believe we can do much better than that.” The success that the team experienced last year will serve as motivation and a challenge for the Hoyas this year. Both Snow and Callahan spoke of Georgetown’s second-place finish against Yale at Coed-Nationals in June as an example of room for improvement. “Right now we’re pretty driven to hit practice hard even though it’s early in the season and make everything count,” Snow said, “Everything is pretty fresh in our minds after last June.” With the team’s success often receiving little fanfare on campus, the Hoyas have quietly put together an eye-catching record in the recent past. “We’ve got 10 national championships to our team and two university world championships, so we’ve been a successful kind of under-the-radar team for a long time at Georgetown,” Callahan said. “We feel like we can continue to be successful and we’ve got a really good group of kids, a fun group, so we’re excited to represent Georgetown.” Snow believes that having a group of experienced leaders willing to teach a group of promising recruits will put Georgetown Sailing in a position to replicate last year’s accomplishments. “The seniors and juniors are doing our best to give [the freshmen] a taste of what national caliber sailing is,” Snow said. “We’re feeling pretty darn confident and we’re in it to not only get top two this year, but we want to win this time around.”
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6 | FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014
THE HOYA | 7
IN ONE YEAR, CORBOZ SISTERS LOOK TO FURTHER HOYAS' SOCCER DYNASTY
women's soccer
Hoyas target 16-win record max fiege
Special to The Hoya
Home-field advantage has been crucial to the recent success of the Georgetown women’s soccer team. After going unbeaten at home in 2013 with a 10-0-2 record, the Hoyas will expect equally raucous crowds to greet them at Shaw Field this year. Currently sporting a 3-0-1 record after a tough four-game non-conference slate of matches, the 13thranked Hoyas face high expectations following last year’s impressive 16-win campaign. Only Marquette is predicted to challenge the Blue and Gray for the Big East title. The Golden Eagles hold a 28-game conference win streak that will be difficult to break. However, behind an explosive offense that has allowed the Hoyas to outscore their opponents
by a 14-to-one margin over the opening four games, Georgetown hopes to unseat the Milwaukee school at the top of the conference. One obstacle to acheiving a conference championship is the high rate of turnover on defense, as four senior starters left the Hilltop after graduation. Despite these challenges, the Hoya defense has effectively been retooled by converting senior Jessie Clinton and juniors Sarah Adams, Marina Paul and Neela Mohan into defenders from their traditional attacking positions. Upperclassmen experience has made up for any positional unfamiliarity as the back four, in tandem with senior goalkeeper Emma Newins, have recorded three straight shutouts. The week culminated with Newins being named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week. Not only does the team sport a formidable
defense, it also features a dangerous offense. Senior midfielder Daphne Corboz, daughter of former French professional player Michel Corboz, is in the running for the 2014 MAC Hermann Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top male and female soccer athletes in NCAA Division I play. Head Coach Dave Nolan thinks that Corboz has a good chance to win the award in her final season. “[Daphne is] one of the top attacking players in the nation,” Nolan said. [She has a] skillset that’s rarely found in American players, and she doesn’t get the recognition she deserves.” Having scored 7 goals and recorded 13 assists despite missing nearly a fourth of last season due to injury, Corboz is the centerpiece of a dynamic offensive group which finished third nationally in scoring last sea-
son. Flanking her is senior striker Vanessa Skrumbis, who has already recorded six goals and one assist in just four games. After earning the honor of being named the Big East Offensive Player of the Week this past week, Skrumbis seems to be well on her way to at least doubling her total of eight goals in the 2013 season. After opening the season against non-elite opposition, the Hoyas will be tested with a daunting road trip to face the fifth-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg, Va. Coming into Friday night’s game, the Blue and Gray faced the University of San Diego, Long Beach State, Towson and North Carolina State. . Long Beach State held the Hoyas to a tied shutout, and moved up to 23rd in the nation as a result. The Virginia Tech game will require a high-
er quality of performance from Georgetown, as the Hokies have opened their season with four easy victories over unranked foes. Looking further down the schedule, No. 21 West Virginia is the only other ranked opponent on the Hoyas’ slate. This relatively favorable schedule does not mean that a conference championship will come easily. “The path to a Big East championship goes through Marquette,” Nolan said. Another Big East challenger and NCAA tournament team, DePaul, has no non-conference games against ranked teams. When the Hoyas face them in conference play, they will hope to take revenge for their late-season 1-0 loss to the Blue Demons. With veteran leadership at both ends of the field, the Hoyas look poised to improve on last year’s record-tying mark of 16 wins.
JUNIOR FORWARD SARAH ADAMS
SENIOR FORWARD VANESSA SKRUMBIS
CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
CHRIS BALTHAZARD Hoya Staff Writer
Hailing from Green Brook, N.J., the Corboz sisters are at the heart of the present and future of a Georgetown women’s soccer program on the rise. Senior attacking midfielder Daphne Corboz is a two-time All-American, and is ranked as the sixth best women’s college soccer player in the country by Top Drawer Soccer. For over three seasons she has dazzled fans of the Blue and Gray, running the midfield like her soccer role model Zinedine Zidane, and linking up brilliantly with striker teammates. Freshman attacking midfielder Rachel Corboz has impressed in her first few games in the squad, combining well with her sister, as well as senior forward Vanessa Skrumbis, and delivering a blistering strike from a few yards outside the box for her first goal as a Hoya. The sisters have racked up plaudits and awards over the past few years: Rachel led her club team, PDA, to three national championships in four years and her high school team to two state titles, earning First Team All-State honors from The Star-Ledger; Daphne has already set the all-time Georgetown women’s record with 35 goals scored en route to winning the Big East Offensive Player of the Year in 2012 and the Big East Midfielder of the Year in 2013, all the while remaining in contention for the trophies given to the best college soccer players in the country, including the Hermann Trophy. “Every so often as a coach you get a chance to get a special player, and special players are very enjoyable to coach. If you get one in your career sometimes you’re doing great,” Head Coach Dave Nolan said. “So to have another player come along like Daphne has been fantastic for me as a coach, and also for this program. And now we’re seeing to some extent the passing of the torch, because ultimately after this year it will become Rachel’s team for the next three years. I’m very lucky to have three wonderful attacking midfielders to run our team.” The Corboz sisters did not attend the same high school in New Jersey, and the rivalry was clear when Daphne’s Watchung Hills team and Rachel’s Pingry squad faced off four years ago. “It’s been pretty cool to see her and Rachel together,” Nolan said. “And Daphne’s always quick to remind me her high school team beat Rachel’s [during] her senior year and Rachel’s freshman year for the state championship. But there’s a lot of good, lighthearted ribbing between them. There is pretender to the throne and the queen of the throne right now.” Despite Rachel’s loss to Daphne at the high school level, the younger Corboz sister has enjoyed huge successes with her traveling team,
SENIOR MIDFIELDER DAPHNE CORBOZ
FRESHMAN MIDFIELDER RACHEL CORBOZ
CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
PDA. “With my club team this past year we won nationals for the third time,” Rachel said. “We had won in our U-15 year and U-17, so being able to win it again our U-18 year just proves that we didn’t let down after winning it once or twice, we just kept going.” Daphne and Rachel grew up in a vibrant soccer household, as their father played in France while their brother played for the storied University of Maryland program. “With my family, we have this game called soccer tennis, and it’s basically a small net and you just juggle it back and forth over the net,” Daphne said. “Usually it’s Rachel and my dad against my brother and me. It got pretty competitive this summer, but we play whenever we’re home.” The sisters have attended nearly every home game of Sky Blue FC, a women’s professional soccer team based in New Jersey which played in the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer League and currently plays in the National Women’s Soccer League. The pair are also fans of the English Premier League’s Arsenal FC. One of Rachel’s soccer role models is midfielder Tobin Heath, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. Women’s National Team. “She’s just very good technically, very good with the ball at her feet, taking players on combining,” Rachel said of Heath. “So I’ve always looked up to her. She’s played my club team, so her coming to our practices and being able to train with her and see her on the field with me was really great.” Both Rachel and Daphne have been in the
CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
picture for the USWNT themselves, having been selected for summer camps to train with the U-18 and U-23 teams, respectively. But for now, their main goal is to take the next step and improve on the Hoyas’ recent results at major tournaments, where they have consistently reached the semifinals of the Big East tournament and the second round of the NCAA tournament. “I’m looking forward to being able to play and compete with this team, and play with all-around very good players,” Rachel said. “Being able to play with Daphne [during] her senior year when I’m a freshman is something I’m excited about and it’s a lot of fun so far. I’m excited to try to help this team out in any way I can, just to compete and try to get better every day.” As for Daphne, she knows one thing about her plans for life after her senior season. “I don’t really know what my plans are, but I do definitely want to keep playing soccer,” Daphne said. “Soccer is my passion.” Academically, Daphne is on the pre-med track, while Rachel currently aims to major in Biology. And Nolan emphasized that while soccer is something that both Corboz sisters excel in; their personal character is just as impressive. “Soccer is in their blood and it’s kind of what has made all of the kids special players,” Nolan said. “But they’re wonderful kids as well. You can see how they carry themselves on and off the field — they were brought up properly. And they’re a great reflection on our program. They’re a great reflection on their parents, but they’re a great reflection on our program as well.”
8 | FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014
men's soccer
Schedule Offers Early Tests SAM SOLOMoN Hoya Staff Writer
Two games into the season and the Georgetown men’s soccer team (0-0-2) has already played the past two NCAA tournament champions, Indiana and Notre Dame. But this is just the beginning for the Hoyas, as they have a grueling 2014 season. Against the Hoosiers — a rematch of the 2012 College Cup Final — the Hoyas fought back from a first-half deficit and tied the game late early in the second half on a goal by junior forward Brandon Allen. Although both teams had several opportunities in second half and ensuing overtime periods, neither team was able to capitalize and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. The Hoyas had a quick turnaround faced the preseason No. 1 Notre Dame on Sunday. In a defensive battle, neither team had many opportunities and the game finished in a 0-0 tie. But the upcoming schedule does not get any easier for the Hoyas. In September, Georgetown will face four preseason ranked opponents — No. 21 Wisconsin, No. 25 VCU, No. 16 UC Irvine and No. 2 Maryland. “[In my] first year of scheduling, in 2007, we put together a schedule that was really hard. It was harder than that team was able to handle,” Wiese said. “At the end of the day, that team wasn’t good enough to get into the NCAA tournament.” In recent years, however, Georgetown has transformed into an elite program and therefore their scheduling philosophy has changed accordingly. “The team is either good enough or they are not. If the team is not good enough, it doesn’t matter how you schedule,” Wiese said. “If the team is good enough and you schedule properly and schedule a hard schedule, you should win enough of them that will serve you well for your postseason goals.” The advantages in playing a tough pre-conference schedule lie in the boost to the team’s ratings percentage index. This statistic has been used heavily in determining college soccer and basketball seeds in postseason tournaments since 1981. RPI is based on a team’s wins and losses and their strength of schedule, and is utilized to compare teams that have not faced each other in regular-season play. Wiese said the other advantage of playing a tough schedule is that it prepares
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the team for the Big East tournament and NCAA tournament. The hope is that by playing skilled teams early on, Georgetown will be prepared for a long run against more talented opposition in November. “In 2012 when we made the run to the national championship game, we put together what ended up being not a very hard [non-conference] schedule and a lot of that was because the Big East that year was having an absolutely fabulous season,” Wiese said. A strong Big East means that the team does not necessarily need a tough schedule early on, because the team will inevitably be challenged come conference play.” That year’s squad was able to begin the season with an astounding 9-0-2 record before heading into more challenging conference play. This year, the Big East features just Georgetown and Creighton in the top 25, necessitating a stronger non-conference slate of matches. For Wiese, each opponent is scheduled for a specific purpose. “Let’s not simply categorize teams into ‘good’ or ‘bad,’” Wiese said. “Each game is its own challenge. Some strain your defense more than others, some games make your attacking group solve the problems and some games like the Notre Dame game we just played make everybody be good.” When discussing his team’s prospects, Wiese was cautiously optimistic. “I do think the team has the potential to be the best team I have ever coached if we get it right but a lot is yet to be determined with that,” he said. Notably, the Hoyas roster features Big East Preseason Offensive Player of the Year junior forward Brandon Allen. Last season, Allen started all 21 games for the Hoyas and scored a team-high 11 goals. While Allen is expected to lead the offensive attack, the defense is anchored by solid back-four defenders, including standout junior captain Keegan Rosenberry. The team’s success will hinge in part on its home-field advantage at Shaw Field. Wiese expects big crowds to greet the Hoyas this season. “I think if you are fan of soccer, then our field will be a fabulous place to watch games this year. I think we got a fun team to watch and we are bringing in fun teams to put us to the test,” Wiese said.
The number of September games against ranked foes
JUNIOR STRIKER BRANDON ALLEN
FILE PHOTOS: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
JUNIOR DEFENDER KEEGAN ROSENBERRY
FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
THE HOYA | 9
Squad Readies For Deeper Postseason Run ANDREW MAY Hoya Staff Writer
The Georgetown men’s soccer team (00-2) entered the 2014 season ranked ninth overall, riding the strength of a 2013 campaign in which the team went 14-5-2 and won the regular-season Big East title. However, that team also lost in the first round of the Big East tournament and exited the NCAA tournament in just the second round after an upset loss at home against Michigan State. This year’s team returns nine starters looking to atone for last season’s inauspicious postseason exits. One of those starters, senior goalkeeper and captain Tomas Gomez, has played in a national championship game, a Big East tournament championship game and started every match last season. For him, the unfinished business lies not in the unpredictable NCAA tournament but against conference rivals. “One of the main goals is to win the Big East tournament championship, which we have never done. I would like to come away from school with that,” Gomez said. Head Coach Brian Wiese defines a successful season in a different way than the players or fans might. For Wiese, his job is
as much about developing his players as it is about wins and losses, and his goals for the team are likewise not about a trophy or a plaque to display in McDonough Arena. “The barometer of success this year is really just whether we can fulfill the potential of what this team is,” Wiese said. “You can look at it by how far you get in the tournament … but for me you are always looking at it as how well are we playing as a group.” One thing both Wiese and Gomez did agree on was the importance of a set of players who have the potential to become the best centerback pair in the nation. Junior defender Cole Seiler and sophomore defender Joshua Yaro led a stout Georgetown back line that led the country in shutout percentage and ranked second in goals allowed in 2013. Seiler started every game for the Hoyas, and Yaro impressed so much during his freshman year that he is an early season favorite to be granted a Generation Adidas contract by Major League Soccer, allowing him to enter the league two years early. “The two of them allow us to be who we are as a team, more than any other factor. Their play with the ball and their decisionmaking - I wouldn’t trade the two of them
for anybody else in the country,” Wiese said. As a goalkeeper, Gomez has a special appreciation for the defenders in front of him. He set a season record at Georgetown for shutouts with 12 and was fourth in the nation in average goals allowed, at just 0.44 per game. Seiler and Yaro, along with junior defenders Josh Turnley and captain Keegan Rosenberry, played a large role in creating those impressive statistics. “If you saw last year, you saw that my job was very easy,” Gomez said, “It was probably the best back four in the country. This year I am going to be called upon sometimes, but I assume they are going to stop it before it even comes to me.” In addition to relying on the back four for a repeat of their 2013 regular-season performances, Georgetown will need to find offense from junior forward Brandon Allen, sophomore forward Alex Muyl, and midfielders such as sophomore Bakie Goodman and senior Tom Skelly. Beyond producing scoring opportunities as individuals, the players also must develop relationships with their teammates and a sense of patience in order to reach their potential as a unit, according to Wiese.
“They have to understand the team identity, but they also have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the guys playing next to them,” Wiese said. “We have to be patient that the season is not won and lost on any given game. It’s an evolution.” The high expectations placed on the team by fans and the team itself do have some positive side effects. Several years of success have brought a great deal of attention to the program, both on campus and in the larger soccer community. Large attendance numbers — including a record 1,491 fans who attended a regular season match against Creighton last season, nearly filling the 1,625 capacity of Shaw Field — have come as a result of recent success. In that vein, a slew of impressive recruits, as well as alumni playing professionally by way of the MLS SuperDraft are both effects of an emerging powerhouse that is growing in consistency. The growth of the program’s popularity has also made Wiese’s job more enjoyable than it was when he arrived at Georgetown in 2006. “I have a lot of gray hairs from my early years. I make no secrets about it, there was a lot of pressure on me after our second year,” Wiese said. “[Now] I really do like watching this team play.”
SOPHOMORE DEFENDER JOSHUA YARO
FILE PHOTO: JULIA HENNRIKUS/THE HOYA
10 | FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014
FIELD HOCKEY
COACH Brings Upbeat Mentality mike ippolito
ahead. “We’re only as strong as our internal leadership,” Soares said while praising the After a disappointing 2013 campaign in commitment of this year’s captains: senior which the Hoyas only won twice, there is defender Brooke Simone, junior midfielda renewed sense of optimism surrounding er Emily Weinberg and Chakejian. the field hockey team this year. Despite “The captains are extensions of the being picked to finish last in this year’s coaching staff. It’s our job to keep the enBig East standings, first-year Head Coach ergy up and control the tempo of games,” Shannon Soares and her two new assistant Weinberg said. coaches, Shelly Montgomery and Mary Soares and the Hoyas will turn to the Beth Barham, are confident about the up- offensive side of the ball to make some coming season. of their biggest changes and put the “all Although NCAA polls predict that in” philosophy to use. After being outthis year will be a rebuilding project for shot nearly two-and-a-half to one last year, Georgetown, Soares insisted that expecta- Soares seeks to implement “reckless” attions are not low within her program. tacks, focusing on finishing in the offen“I don’t believe in rebuilding. You set sive end. and work toward goals, and we’ve raised Chakejian thinks this rejuvenated ofexpectations for ourselves both physically fensive approach will bring an air of conand mentally, and we’re embracing those fidence to the entire team. expectations,” Soares said. “[We] will present the team as a united The first of those aforementioned goals front and we play to win instead of not to for the Hoyas (1-1) is to change the identity lose,” she said. of Georgetown field hockey. So far, the changes have “I don’t like to focus much resonated. Through their first on the past,” Soares said. “We two games, the Hoyas have have a new style, new philosonetted seven goals, a mark phy and a new culture that is they did not reach until their focused on the future and I’m sixth game last season. Addiexcited about the 21 women tionally, after their opening we have and the work they two games against Appalaare going to put in to make chian State and Davidson, this change happen.” The number of new Georgetown has attempted as Sophomore midfielder Mamany shots as its opponents. ria McDonald said that the coaches on the Another offensive bright entire team has embraced field hockey staff spot for the Hoyas this season Soares’ “all in” philosophy. should be increased produc“The team has been very receptive and tion from young players. Freshman forwilling to put in the time and effort to go ward Megan Parsons has already netted a to the next level,” McDonald said. goal in each of the team’s first two games In addition to the changes in leadership and sophomore forward Aliyah Gravesand mentality, the Hoyas also changed Brown has also netted two goals while astheir venue. Practices will be held and sisting on two more. home games played on campus at the Weinberg attributes the diversification MultiSport Facility for the first time since and depth of the attack to a sense of equal2007. Previously, the team was forced to ity among the team. trek to College Park, Md., at the University “We don’t believe in seniority,” Weinof Maryland for games that were devoid of berg said. “Everyone is equal and that apa home advantage that the team will now plies to expectations as well.” enjoy. If the Hoyas survive an opening 10-game “It gives us a deeper connection to and slate in which they face seven road matchmore pride in the school,” junior midfield- es, the team can see out its expectations. er and captain Louise Chakejian said. The initial road-heavy schedule is balMcDonald is also excited to play on the anced out by a plethora of home games to Hilltop for the first time. finish the season, including six of the final “Now the team has something to fight eight regular-season matchups. for. This [field] is just ours to protect,” she The two biggest tests for the Hoyas this said. season will come in October, when they Although the Hoyas have undoubtedly travel to battle reigning national chamfaced adversity in recent seasons, this is pion Connecticut and host eighth-ranked a team that returns over 90 percent of its Old Dominion. Although the Big East is roster from last season. This wealth of ex- a difficult conference and one of the naperience, coupled with a renewed focus tion’s best, optimism pervades the team on leadership, should bring brighter days this season. Special to The Hoya
JUNIOR MIDFIELDER EMILY WEINBERG
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FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
JUNIOR MIDFIELDER LOUISE CHAKEJIAN
FILE PHOTO: CHRIS GRIVAS/THE HOYA
THE HOYA | 11
volleyball
freshmen impact veteran squad ELIZABETH CAVACOS Hoya Staff Writer
After a year of transition and inconsistency, the 2014 Georgetown volleyball team (2-1) will attempt to establish a new winning tradition. The team heads into the new season with a firm foundation, returning five seniors, as well as a majority of its defensive force from the 2013 season. But fresh talent and a renewed attention to detail are needed ingredients in the Hoyas’ push to the top of the Big East. The Hoyas will look to improve on their 10-19 record from last season. Following the realignment of the Big East, the team had a disappointing 4-12 conference record against largely unfamiliar opposition. This subpar finish to the year saw the Blue and Gray fall short of placing into the postseason Big East tournament. Head Coach Arlisa Williams says that upperclassman experience will be key to closing the gap between the Hoyas and their conference opponents this year. “They’ve got that experience that they
are able to share with our younger players,” Williams said of the returning players. “Based on their leadership and their experience here, we have got a lot of players that are really jumping on board and ready to help us be great in the Big East.” Junior Lauren Saar and senior MacKenzie Simpson return this season as key team fixtures; Saar led the offense in 2013 with 345 kills, and Simpson anchored the defense with 423 digs. The pair are set to steer the team as captains this season, and will look to raise the standard of performance for the entire squad. “Those two offensive and defensive [players] complementing each other are also our captains,” Williams said of Saar and Simpson’s dynamic. “They bring with them some great skill, but also some of those intangible pieces: the work ethic, the never-say-die attitude that we need. They both love the game, and both of them have a sense of urgency and want us to do as well as we can this year.” Williams is also enthusiastic about the elements that the freshmen bring to the table. In particular, 6’3” freshman outside
SENIOR LIBERO MACKENZIE SIMPSON
hitter Terese Cannon will give Georgetown a competitive edge throughout the season. “[Cannon] plays at such a high contact point,” Williams said. “We’ve got other players in our gym who touch 10 feet, but we haven’t had an outside hitter in my time at Georgetown who is playing above the basketball rim. The fact that she’s playing so high above the net brings something that we haven’t had before.” Freshman setter Casey Speer has also started to make an impact. “[Casey] steps on the floor and the whole dynamic changes,” Williams said. “Everybody just feeds off of her and her energy and how positive she is. She told me in our meeting at the end of preseason that she wants to be that player who typified Georgetown volleyball as a scrappy team that never lets anything fall.” Last weekend’s D.C. Challenge provided an early opportunity for Georgetown to assess its preparation levels and set goals for improvement. Despite strong efforts and changes in momentum in all three sets, the Hoyas fell 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-21) to the American University Eagles in the first
match of the weekend. However, the spirit and grit that persisted through the ups and downs of last season shone through when Georgetown took back the court on Saturday, defeating the George Mason Patriots 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 2523, 25-13) and sweeping the Howard Bison in straight sets (25-13, 25-16, 25-15). Williams was pleased with the end results of the D.C. Challenge, but wants to fine-tune some of the fundamentals. “We score points with kills, blocks and aces,” Williams said. “Hopefully we’ll see our numbers go up in those categories, as well as continue to put up the defensive numbers with digging and passing consistently.” If the Hoyas remain detail-oriented and capitalize on their potential, Williams believes they will find success. “We are getting to a point where we are working hard and are able to execute,” Williams said. “I think that if we can do some of the things that we were doing last year at a slightly higher level than we did last year, it will allow us to have some of the success that we want.”
JUNIOR OUTSIDE HITTER LAUREN SAAR
FILE PHOTO: MICHELLE XU/THE HOYA
FILE PHOTO: ALEXANDER BROWN/THE HOYA
UPCOMINg home games SENIOR DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER TYLER RUDY
GRADUATE STUDENT FORWARD KAITLIN BAST
MEN'S SOCCER
WOMEN'S SOCCER
Harvard: Sept. 5, 4 p.m. Shaw Field Wisconsin: Sept. 7, 1 p.m. Shaw Field
George Washington: Sept. 14, 4 p.m. Shaw Field Dusquene: Sept. 21, 1 p.m. Shaw Field alexander brown/the hoya
SENIOR DEFENSIVE BACK JOHN EGAN
chris grivas/the hoya
JUNIOR OUTSIDE HITTER LAUREN SAAR
FOOTBALL
VOLLEYBALL
Brown: Sept. 20, 12 p.m. MultiSport Facility Harvard: Oct. 4, 12 p.m. MultiSport Facility
Liberty: Sept. 9, 7 p.m. McDonough Arena Creighton: Sept. 23, 7 p.m. McDonough Arena ALEXANDER BROWN/the hoya
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