This Weekend In #BEfútbol – 9.17
NEW YORK - The 2018 BIG EAST men's soccer league slate started off Friday night with a double overtime victory for new head coach Mark Plotkin and the DePaul Blue Demons over the visiting Providence Friars, setting the tone early for opening weekend.
The following day, Xavier came from behind to defeat Georgetown in Washington, D.C., 3-2 with a winning goal in the 86th minute. St. John's tallied its third consecutive 1-0 victory over Seton Hall in a league regional rivalry in the first of three Saturday night games.
Both 8 p.m. games resulted in the same score as No. 25 Creighton and Marquette shut out their opponents Butler and No. 13 Villanova, 3-0. The Bluejays have not allowed a goal at home this season through its first four contests at Morrison Stadium. The win for the Golden Eagles snapped a three-game losing skid and was the first victory over a ranked team since a 1-0 overtime win over No. 7 Akron in the second round of the 2013 NCAA tournament.
DEPAUL 2, PROVIDENCE 1 (2OT)
First year head coach Mark Plotkin tallied his first league win as Blue Demon sophomore midfielder Istvan Wilhelms scored the game-winning goal in the 107th minute of the contest against Providence on Friday afternoon. Wilhelms also scored the first goal of the game for the Blue Demons, setting the tone in the fifth minute of play. Providence's Tiago Mendonca evened the score in the 52nd minute as the game went to two overtime periods. DePaul's defense limited the Friars to that single shot on goal.
XAVIER 3, [rv] GEORGETOWN 2
Scoreless for the first 43 plus minutes of play, Georgetown got on the board first on a penalty kick goal from Kyle Zajec. Xavier tied it up then took the lead with two goals within a 12 minute period as redshirt freshman Cameron Belle netted his first career tally to even the score and redshirt junior Jacob Goodall gave XU the go-ahead goal at 77:51. Georgetown rookie Rio Hope-Gund tied it up with a little more than five minutes left in regulation, scoring for the Hoyas off a corner kick. Musketeer midfielder Tomek Pauer flicked a header from six yards out, clinching the match with his second goal of the season at 85:56. Matt Nance was credited with an assist on all three Xavier goals.
ST. JOHN'S 1, SETON HALL 0
St. John's junior midfielder Matt Forster scored his fourth goal of the season, the eventual gamewinner in the 10th minute of action on Saturday night on his home field, Belson Stadium. Freshman Brandon Knapp was credited with the assist on a long pass. Senior goalkeeper Lenny Wilson picked up his second clean sheet victory in as many tries, making a season-high five saves and improving his record to 3-1-0 on the campaign. It was the third consecutive season that St. John's defeated Seton Hall by a 1-0 score. Seton Hall's Andreas Nota made six saves in the contest.
No. 25 CREIGHTON 3, BUTLER 0
Creighton senior forward Sven Koenig scored two second-half goals to shutout the Butler Bulldogs in front of a crowd of 4,711 at Morrison Field in Omaha amidst Creighton's homecoming celebrations. In addition to Koenig's pair of goals, junior midfielder/forward Ziyad Fares also found the back of the net. Creighton freshman Paul Kruse made two saves and recorded his fourth shutout of the season. Creighton has not allowed a goal at home this season through its first four contests at Morrison Stadium, the longest such streak to start the season since 2014 when the Bluejays also recorded four consecutive shutouts at home. Saturday night's contest was the first between the two squads that was not decided by a one-goal margin.
MARQUETTE 3, No. 13 VILLANOVA 0
Marquette junior Connor Alba registered a goal and an assist against the 13th-ranked Villanvoa Wildcats on Saturday night. Golden Eagle senior keeper Luis Barraza made five saves, and received the help of Oliver Posarelli on a goal line deflection, en route to his eighth career clean sheet and second this season. Marquette's goals came at the 28th, 77th and 83rd minutes. Patrick Seagrist and Josh Coan also scored for Marquette.
#BEfútbol Weekend Results
Friday, Sept. 14
DEPAUL 2, PROVIDENCE 1 (2OT)
Saturday, Sept. 15
XAVIER 3, [rv] GEORGETOWN 2
ST. JOHN'S 1, SETON HALL 0
[25] CREIGHTON 3, BUTLER 0
MARQUETTE 3, [13] VILLANOVA 0
Upcoming #BEfútbol Schedule
Tuesday, Sept. 18
Loyola Chicago at DEPAUL, 4 p.m.
Rhode Island at PROVIDENCE, 7 p.m.
GEORGETOWN at [10] Duke, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 19
La Salle at VILLANOVA, 4 p.m.
Milwaukee at MARQUETTE (Milwaukee Cup), 8:05 p.m.
SETON HALL at Sacred Heart, 3 p.m.
All times listed are Eastern.
BIG EAST teams are noted in ALL CAPS.