One by one, Georgetown players fell like bowling pins onto the browning turf at wind-whipped Shaw Field, leveled by the cruel and abrupt manner in which their soccer season had just ended.
Fourteen seconds from entering a penalty-kick tiebreaker to decide the NCAA tournament second-round match against Southern Methodist on Sunday, the Hoyas needed one more clearance to dodge danger. Defender Brendan McDonough and goalkeeper J.T. Marcinkowski tried to make a play on a cross whipped toward the near post.
McDonough accidentally redirected it into his own net, handing the match to the Mustangs, 2-1.
“Brendan was going for it, I was going for it,” Marcinkowski said.