Nov. 6, 2004

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Georgetown Hoyas and Villanova Wildcats played to a 1-1 tie in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal played here on a blustery afternoon at the Villanova Soccer Complex. The Hoyas advance to the semifinal round by virtue of a 4-3 edge in penalty kicks.

The best chances in the first half belonged to Villanova. After a Georgetown player was whistled for a hand ball in the Hoya box, Villanova senior Jonathan Lopuski (Montville, N.J.) was awarded a penalty kick in the 12th minute. However, Hoya goalkeeper Andrew Keszler knocked Lopuski's low shot away to keep the match even.

Another wonderful scoring opportunity for Villanova arrived in the 17th minute. Junior Brett Stassfurth (Gahanna, Ohio) got behind the Georgetown defense and arched a shot towards the net with Keszler out of position. However, a Hoya defender booted the ball over the crossbar and out of harm's way before it crossed the goal line.

Villanova (7-5-6 overall) outshot Georgetown (11-7-2 overall) 10-5 in the first period.

The Hoyas rebounded in the second half and were rewarded at 69:04. Trevor Goodrich knocked down a Villanova clearing attempt and touched the ball to Brent Plumley. Plumley tucked a low shot past Wildcat goalie Craig Bald (Edgewater, Md.) to stake the Hoyas to a 1-0 lead.

Villanova bounced back at 78:46. Stassfurth picked up a ball just outside the box and fed freshman Danny DeMasters (Littiz, Pa.) near the 18 yard mark. DeMasters fired a low shot to Keszler's right that beat the Hoya goalie to tie the game at one.

That's where the score remained through a pair of overtime sessions, setting up the penalty kick finale. Villanova inserted freshman Jason Friel (Dublin, Pa.) into net for the session.

Jeff Curtin converted his opening kick for Georgetown and Stassfurth did the same for the `Cats. After a miss by each squad, Mike Glacum converted for the Hoyas with Villanova's Felix Vincent (East Lyme, Conn.) answering with a conversion. Dan Gargan knocked in Georgetown's fourth attempt while Pat Gallagher (Harrisburg, Pa.) duplicated the feat for Villanova. Paul Brandley beat Friel on the Hoyas' fifth attempt before VU's Chris Edgar sent his attempt wide. By virtue of the penalty kicks, Georgetown advances to Friday evening's semifinal against either Notre Dame or Seton Hall.

A packed house of 924 fans were on hand to witness the contest at the Soccer Complex.