Georgetown’s Spring Visit to Spry
For the Spring College Cup match between Georgetown and Wake Forest on March 23, 2024, both sides featured squads of mostly American players.
In the 3rd minute of play, Wake Forest had a chance to go up 1-0 in the first five minutes of the match when Babacar Niang drew a foul in the box. Georgetown goalkeeper Luca Ulrich showed his experience as he came up with a great diving save to deny Niang’s penalty shot towards the bottom right corner. Local to the DMV area, Ulrich is a dual citizen between the United States and Germany and has trained with several notable German clubs over the years. With last year’s starter Ryan Schewe now with Sporting Kansas City, it looks like the starting job is open between Luca Ulrich and Tenzing Manske, who was 4-1 with three clean sheets in his 5 appearances last season. Manske will spend the summer with Charlotte Eagles in USL League Two.
I should also mention that Charlie DeMarco will be joining the goalkeepers as an incoming freshman, which will increase the competition. I haven’t seen him play, but his resume is impressive for an 18 year old. He has already represented the U23 Venezuelan National Team while also being called up to three training camps with the U19 U.S. National Team.
Georgetown’s double pivot midfield pair looked good early on in the match. It probably won’t surprise anybody that Joe Buck was a standout. He’s the older brother of New England Revolution’s Noel Buck who just started in a match against Morocco for the England Under-19 National Team a few days ago.
One of the next promising attempts on goal came from senior Marlon Tabora who started up top as a center forward in replacement for now professional Jacob Murrell. In the 19th minute, the 2023 All Big East Co-Midfielder of the Year grazed the cross bar on his shot from the top of the 18-yard box.
Trace Alphin was called upon a couple of times, once at near point blank range to test his reflexes, but overall, Wake Forest’s central defensive group picked up where they left off from the last time I saw them. Travis Smith Jr. and Prince Amponsah proved again that they’ll be a pairing to watch this upcoming season.
Baba Niang ended up getting his goal twenty minutes later when Cooper Flax slipped a forward pass between two defenders to find Pariss Mitchell who provided the assist. Mitchell’s pass found its way through a clever dummy play by Jeffrey White to the unmarked Niang.
Throughout the match, Wake Forest head coach Bobby Muuss had the opportunity to try out a few different midfield combinations. Incoming transfer Pierce Bateson was the likely replacement for the holding midfield position, but unfortunately, he sustained an injury that will likely keep him out for quite some time. Initially, Wake Forest started off with Cooper Flax and Jose Perez together with an advanced Jeffrey White. Coming out of half time, they went back to last year’s formation with a single holding midfielder and two eights. This was achieved by giving Amponsah an opportunity in the holding role and moving Flax into a more natural box-to-box role. Niang moved inside to round out the middle three. This was also an opportunity to give newcomer Daniel Krueger more minutes at right center back. The triple citizen Philadelphia Union product has adapted well so far.
Cooper Flax showed that he’ll be a very important player for the team this year as he’ll be tasked with a lot of the midfield work rate while continuing to connect the dots for the Demon Deacons.
With the injuries to O’Gara and Bateson, they’re certainly missing the attributes of a true deep lying playmaker. There’s good news though. Veteran midfielder Ryan Fessler has been successful in the recovery process and he’s back in the gym. He will be taking part in full training ahead of the fall season.
Georgetown was able to tie up the game around the 49th minute when Max Viera broke towards the end line to provide a well-placed cross to Mateo Ponce Ocampo who was waiting on the back post.
Fullbacks Cristian Escribano and Bo Cummins were active going forward for the home side. Escribano was routinely involved in possession and took on advanced positions when the opportunities presented themselves. He created a few chances in the first half and was eventually rewarded for his efforts halfway through the second. In the 58th minute, he scored from the edge of the area. I wasn’t able to get a video of that one though.
Cummins ended up leading a counter attack that resulted in the last goal of the day. Flax secured possession of Smith Jr.’s clearance and distributed out to Cummins. From the defensive third, he drove up the field before releasing Pariss Mitchell on the right flank. The continued forward runs from Cummins and Walent took attention away from the trailing Jeffrey White who had time to settle Mitchell’s cross for a strike to make it 3-1.
Georgetown await the arrival of the much anticipated Mitchell Baker. The incoming freshman striker is already on the watchlist for NCAA newcomers and should bolster the Hoya attack. Drafted playmaker Zach Zengue is probably hoping to expand upon last season’s production and getting Baker up to speed quickly will be important for him to accomplish that. Other additions include LAFC Academy’s Matthew Evans, Crystal Palace Academy’s Jordi Sada-Paz, and Tate Lampman who has already made 18 appearances for Houston Dynamo 2. Of those appearances, 14 of them were made before his 17th birthday.
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