Cardona's PK, assist keep Tigers unbeaten

After an 8-1 drubbing against IU East late Friday night, Georgetown had aspirations of similar performance on the 1st day of September against Lawrence Tech. It took longer than the Tigers may have wanted, but the results came when needed as Georgetown scored 3 goals after halftime for a 3-1 win to remain unbeaten to start 2024.

The day started with both teams trying to establish their own structure and style of play. In the 3rd minute, the Blue Devils got on the board thanks to an own goal from Georgetown that saw a pass being played back to Simon Heine in goal have too much force on it from nearly 30 yards out. The rest of the half saw minimal chances of note for either side as the teams were able to advance between the 18-yard boxes but could not capitalize within. Lawrence Tech remained ahead, 1-0, at halftime.

Georgetown made a 2nd half alignment change to a 4-5-1, which opened up the wide sides for the Tigers to operate. The move first paid off in the 56th minute. Charlie Hogg broke free on a run down the right side into the Blue Devils box. He then went for a cross attempt, but the ball took a deflection onto the left foot of a trailing Xavier Hale. Hale rocketed a shot towards goal that deflected in to tie the match at 1. Hogg nearly followed with another tally just 75 seconds later, but the shot sailed just wide right. The alignment change also shored up the defense as Lawrence Tech only mustered 1 shot on goal after Hale's equalizer.

The Tigers continued to find alleys and make runs against the Blue Devil defense, which paid off in the 80th minute. On a long pass forward, Esteban Betancurt Cardona broke behind the line on the right side, and as he was going for a touch inside the box, he was cleaned out by the Lawrence Tech keeper and was awarded a penalty shot. The keeper went left and Cardona shot right on the try to smash the net for a 2-1 lead and caused the Toyota Stadium crowd to erupt in delight. Less than 4 minutes later, Cardona make his presence felt again, but on the left this time. As Lawrence Tech took a deep ball and was looking to move forward, Cardona played a clever touch for a steal and found Mohammed Mouzoune near the top of the Blue Devil box. Mouzoune made one move around a defender and fired a shot into the top of the net. The freshman's 6th goal in 5 matches gave the Tigers the knockout blow for the 3-1 win.

It gave the Tigers a smile of happiness and relief after a physical match that saw 23 fouls called and 6 yellow cards issued.

After beating this team from Michigan on home soil, Georgetown will now head north to take on Michigan-Dearborn on Friday afternoon. The match is slated for a Noon kickoff.