Former Academy players will meet in College Cup Semis

Two former D.C. United Academy players, sophomore Mikias Eticha (University of Maryland; Falls Church, Va.; Arlington Soccer Association) and sophomore Tyler Rudy (Georgetown University; Olney, Md.; Olney Boys and Girls Club), and their respective universities moved past the quarterfinals of the College Cup this past Saturday. Both colleges will take each other on in the semifinals on Friday, December 7 at 5:00 p.m. ET in Hoover, Ala., and one will emerge to meet either No. 12 Creighton (17-3-3) or No. 16 Indiana (14-5-3) in the final on Sunday, December 9 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Rudy started in the semifinal match that saw No. 3 Georgetown (19-3-2) defeat unseeded San Diego 3-1. The Toreros got on the board first off of a corner kick in the 50th minute, but the Hoyas would score three unanswered goals in the 51st, 73rd and 88th minutes to capture a come-from-behind win. With the victory, Georgetown earned a spot in its first College Cup semifinal appearance. Additionally, the Hoyas’ 19 wins in the 2012 campaign broke the program record set in 1994.

“This feeling is just awesome," Georgetown Head Coach Brian Wiese told GUHoyas.com. “This postseason has been really interesting for this team since we were expected the get there, being the three seed, but we've never done it before. How you manage that dual mentality is really interesting and I'm so proud of them.”

In a convincing 3-1 victory over No.10 Louisville in the College Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, No. 2 Maryland (20-1-2) moved on to its 12th semifinal in program history. Eticha played 13 minutes on Saturday after going for 52 minutes and tallying an assist the previous weekend in a 5-1 win over unseeded Coastal Carolina.

The Terps opened the scoring account in the 34th minute, but Louisville came back with an equalizer in the 40th. However, with 40 seconds remaining in the first half, Maryland struck back to take a 2-1 lead at the interval. One more strike in the 68th minute sealed it, vaulting the Terps back to familiar (championship) ground. Maryland last appeared in, and won, the College Cup final in 2008, defeating North Carolina by a score of 1-0.

“We played a great game against one of the great teams in college soccer...against one of the most well-coached, skillful and determined teams in the country," Maryland Head Coach Sasho Cirovski told UMTerps.com. "This game had a lot of intrigue to it and our team came out with a hunger, a tenacity, a determination and a skillset that carried us through.”