Men's Soccer takes opener over Oakland City

Men's Soccer kicked off its 2023 campaign with a Friday afternoon fixture against Oakland City. With several new faces in the lineup, the Tigers were able to come together quickly for a 3-1 win and an opening 3 points on the season.

The Tigers and Mighty Oaks traded possession and forward advances through the first 15 minutes with nothing to show for on the scoreboard. Georgetown would change that soon after. In the 16th minute, Oakland City was called for a foul just outside the penalty area, giving GC a golden chance on a free kick. Esteban Betancurt Cardona took the free kick from the left and drilled the upper-left 90 for the first tally of the season. The goal gave the Tigers the early momentum, which went to another level just 2 minutes later. On a corner kick, Cardona launched a ball perfectly into the center box, where Diego Mora was waiting. Mora rose up with a clear header that crashed the net, doubling the Georgetown lead to 2.

Oakland City would settle in and the teams traded possessions again for most of the half. With just seconds remaining in the half, Tiger freshman, Alejandro Mena, found himself on a breakaway but was cleared out by the Mighty Oaks keeper inside the goal box, resulting in a penalty kick with just 4 seconds to go in the half. Mena calmly buried the try in the lower-left corner of the net for a 3-0 Georgetown lead at the half.

The Tigers would turn their focus to defending in the second half. While Oakland City would score in the 82nd minute, the Georgetown defense was too strong to allow consistency from the Mighty Oaks attack. In his first start as the full-time starting keeper, Shjon Ripy recorded 6 saves to pick up the win.

Georgetown next battles Blue Mountain Christian (MS) on Thursday, August 24th at 6:00pm at Toyota Stadium.