ESPNU to televise tilt against No. 6 Georgetown

Coming off its first win of the season, the men’s soccer team (1-1-1) will look to pull off a major upseton Wednesdaynight as the Tigers take on No. 6 Georgetown University (2-1-3) at Roberts Stadium. The matchup has started to build up some hype, as the game will be televised live on ESPNU, as well as WatchESPN.

Senior midfield/forward Julian Griggs provided the Tigers with late-game heroics inSunday’s5-4 victory over Seton Hall University, as the Maryland native broke a 4-4 gridlock with his second goal of the game with only 28 seconds left in the match. Princeton’s five-goal performance, after last week’s scoreless tie against St. John’s, demonstrated the offensive production that the Tigers are able to create.

While the Tigers seemed to have hit their stride after their first couple of games, it will take a tremendous effort to take out the sixth-ranked Hoyas, who have defeated Princeton in each of the last three seasons. The Tigers also trail the Hoyas 0-5-2 in the all-time series record between the two squads.

Although the Hoyas’ record does not indicate complete dominance from a side that was the national runner-up two years ago, Georgetown remains as great a threat as ever and has fared well thus far in an incredibly challenging schedule. The Hoyas tied with then-No. 1 Notre Dame at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic in Indiana on Aug. 31, and followed up the performance with dominant wins over Harvard and Wisconsin. A surprising home loss in overtime last week to the unranked Virginia Commonwealth University side has been the only bump in the road for the Hoyas thus far, as they continued on to battle No. 9 UC Irvine to a 1-1 drawon Sundayafternoon at Shaw Field.

“Georgetown has been and continues to be a strong team,” senior forward Cameron Porter said. “Although in recent years they have gotten the better of us, our games with them have been well-fought.”

A hard-fought battle will certainly be a requirement if the Tigers wish to avoid a four-game slide against the D.C. powerhouse. But the Tigers’ recent play makes Porter confident that his squad has a chance not only to gain an enormous emotional boost, but also to turn heads toward receiving an at-large NCAA tournament bid, if need be.

“If our offense can play like it did against Seton Hall, and our defense like it did against St. John’s, I think we can expect an exciting win against Georgetown comeWednesday, which would be a huge step toward a tournament bid,” Porter said.

“This is a huge game at home against a ranked opponent,” junior forward Nico Hurtado said. “We’ve lost the past two years to them by just a goal, so we feel like we can beat them this year. We’re trying to see if we can keep being very aggressive in our attack, but without giving up scoring chances for the other team. We feel like we would be back on track with a wintomorrownight.”