Chester, Pa. - Georgetown and Notre Dame will compete for the 2012 BIG EAST Championship title on Nov. 11 at noon PPL Park in Chester, Pa.
Georgetown defeated Marquette 2-1 in double-overtime in the first semifinal on Nov. 9, and Notre Dame shut out Connecticut 1-0 in the second semifinal.
BIG EAST Rookie of the Year Brandon Allen netted the game-winning goal for Georgetown with 59 seconds remaining in the second overtime to advance the Hoyas to the title game. Junior Steve Neumann sent a corner and Allen fired it in to the net to break a 1-1 tie at PPL Park.
The Fighting Irish advanced to the title game on a goal by senior Dillon Powers in the 11th minute that stood as the gamewinner. Powers, a first team all-conference selection, took a pass from junior Alex Priede to put the Irish in the lead.
The Hoyas and Irish met once this season, with Notre Dame posting a 3-0 win on Oct. 6. Priede scored the first goal of the game and Ryan Finley scored the next two.
The Fighting Irish are ranked first in the NCAA RPI rankings and are ranked seventh in the most recent NSCAA poll. Notre Dame is on a six-game unbeaten streak and has only lost one game in the last nine outings.
Georgetown clinched a share of the BIG EAST Blue Division regular season title and captured a No. 2 seed, earning a bye to the quarterfinals, where the Hoyas defeated St. John’s 2-1. The Hoyas, ranked No. 4 in the NSCAA national poll, are on a seven-game winning streak.
“Georgetown is one of the best teams we have played this year,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “We know each other very well.” Clark coached Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese at Dartmouth before the two coached together at Stanford.
In the field of eight, competition was played on Nov. 3 and 4, with only one match decided by more than a goal. On Saturday, Nov. 3, Marquette upset No. 1 Red seed Louisville 2-1. Georgetown defeated No. 3 Red seed St. John’s 2-1 Notre Dame posted a 4-2 victory over No. 2 Red seed Syracuse. On Sunday, Nov. 4 Connecticut, captured the last of the semifinal spots with a 1-0 win against No. 4 Red seed Villanova. In first round action, Marquette defeated No. 5 Red seed Cincinnati 3-0 and Villanova recorded a 3-1 win against No. 5 Blue seed Villanova.
In the most recent NSCAA rankings, Georgetown is ranked fourth nationally, while Connecticut (No. 6), Notre Dame (No. 7) and Marquette (No. 10) make it four BIG EAST teams in the top 10. Louisville is not far behind in the No. 11 spot, while St. John’s is ranked No. 13. Of the eight teams that reached the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals, six were nationally ranked.
2000.
The winner of the BIG EAST Championship earns an automatic berth the NCAA Championship, which will be held at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., on Dec. 7 and 9. Last season, the BIG EAST had seven teams earn spots in the NCAA Championship. All seven teams earned home games, with four teams earning byes to the second round. Three teams advanced to the quarterfinals (Connecticut, Louisville and USF). The BIG EAST has two national titles, St. John’s in 1996 and UConn in 2000.
