By: Brendan Burris ~Staff Writer~

As the Big East Conference Tournament continues and the NCAA Tournament looms, the men’s soccer team continues to play well and put together solid results for the program. The team, who went into the conference tournament as the No. 4 seed, hosted a strong DePaul Blue Demons squad that finished the season 4-4-1 in the Big East. Very quickly into the game, the Musketeers found themselves down, as DePaul’s Jalen Harvey finished on a breakaway in the 14th minute.

The Musketeers settled in much better as the half went on, when redshirt sophomore midfielder Walker Andriot scored off an attempted clearance in the 30th minute. That was Andriot’s first goal of the season and one of 19 shots registered to the Musketeers this game. A strong game was played on both sides throughout the match, with DePaul’s attack continuing to push while the Musketeers defense stayed stout.

The turning point in the game took place in the 47th minute when senior midfielder Alex Risdale finished a strong header past DePaul’s keeper to make the game 2-1. The Musketeers were able to hang on for another 40 minutes to claim the victory. Senior goalkeeper Dallas Jaye, whose season stats place him as a top-10 goalkeeper in the country, was credited with one save in the game.

Now up for the Musketeers is the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament, the Georgetown Hoyas. The Hoyas enter the game 13-2-2 and have won their last 11 games, one being a 1-0 overtime victory against Xavier earlier in the year at the Xavier Soccer Complex. The winner of that matchup will then head to the Big East final, which for the first time in three years will take place at the highest seed’s home stadium, as opposed to a neutral site.

The winner of Xavier’s game will play either Creighton or Providence. Musketeer and Friar victories would set up a rematch of last year’s Big East Championship game, which Providence won. The Musketeers game versus Georgetown takes place at 2 p.m. on Nov. 12 in Washington, D.C.