Washington, DC – Georgetown posted another shut-out to beat Big East rival Depaul 1-0.  Gtown scored an early goal and hung on to get the win.  Depaul just doesn’t play very well.  It was painful to watch them.  Technically, they aren’t very good doing even the most basic things as a team.

Gtown, for the second game in a row, didn’t play as well as I expect them.  While they got the result, if they expect to have more than a sip of coffee in the NCAA tournament, they will need to raise their standard.

Starting Lineups:

Depaul 4-1-4-1.
G: Brian Visser

D: Nathan Feltz, Patrick Hopkins, Joe Sondag, Mark Plotkin

DM: Peter Sterbenz

M: Andre Gutierrez, Willy Lara, John Kornfeld, Erich Reichmann

F: Steffen Vroom

Georgetown 4-4-2.
G: Matthew Brutto

D: Mark Zeman, Len Coleman, Alex Verdi, Mostafa Ebrahimnejad

M: Seth C’deBaca, Robert Burnett, Corey Zeller, Scott Larrabee

F: Jose Colchao, Peter Grasso

Depaul observations:

MOTM for Depaul is senior goal keeper Brian Visser.  He made countless key saves to keep this game close.

Junior right back Nathan Feltz was able to beat Ebrahimnejad around the corner and served a low hard cross, but no one was supporting the run.  The most attractive series resulted in Feltz dummying the ball to junior Steffen Vroom who sent the ball back to the on-rushing Feltz.  Feltz’s cross was cleared by Gtown junior center back Len Coleman.  Chivas does this same sequence.

Vroom finds space behind the Gtown DM entirely too easily.

When I saw Depaul last year, I wasn’t impressed with the way that they play, this game further cements my opinion.

Gtown observations:

Gtown continued to hurt themselves with sloppy passing in the back.  Countless times, an errant pass by a defender or a midfielder without much defensive cover was misplayed resulting in a quick Depaul transition opportunity.  This can’t continue.

Seth C’deBaca played much better than on Friday.  My assessment isn’t based solely on him scoring the only goal in the 4th minute.  Junior Scott Larrabee (who I justifiably trashed for his play on Friday) created the chance by pressuring Feltz in the corner and winning the ball.  Larrabee sent the ball back to Ebrahimnejad who crossed the ball into the Depaul box.  Depaul didn’t clear the ball well and it bounced to an open and waiting C’deBaca who hit the ball off the cross bar into the back of the goal.

C’deBaca was aggressive (demanding the ball) and then doing something productive with it. His crosses would have been assists if not for a huge effort by Visser.

Why does Len Coleman cover the smallest player on the field?  He should either be matched up with the tallest or play free to clean up anything that comes near the box.

Sophomore Rob Burnett played much better in the first half – making timely tackles.  He needs to be aware of players getting behind him and work more closely with Coleman on deciding the coverage.

Sophomore Mostafa Ebrahimnejad had a horrible game.  It was like he’d regressed back to his sloppy play from his freshman year.  Entirely too many unforced passing errors.

Freshman David Madison is not accustomed to the speed of play making him appear indecisive.

I’m not sure that I really like the forward platoon that Gtown has implemented.  They might have better success if they adjusted the platoon.  Currently senior Peter Grasso is teamed with sophomore Jose Colchao and sophomore Chandler Diggs is teamed with freshman Uche Onyeador.  Switching either of these players would provide a more complementary lineup.  Both Diggs and Onyeador have a lot of speed and quickness.  Grasso and Colchao aren’t as swift.  This could put Diggs and Onyeador as the target.  Regardless, these players have to play better and start putting the ball in the net.

Sophomore goal keeper Matthew Brutto had a pretty uneventful afternoon.  Coach Weiss stated that he’s satisfied with this arrangement because Brutto is a better organizer/positioning while Wilber is a more athletic player that is a better shot blocker.  So, I expect for fast, technically proficient teams, Wilber will get the start and for teams that aren’t as good, Brutto might get the call.