Hoya Saxa

Lore & Background

The phrase was first used at Georgetown University sometime before 1893, when it was noted in publications about Georgetown's football games against Swarthmore College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. By 1894, chanting the phrase was considered a well-established tradition, and its use at commencement and alumni celebrations was also published. The exact origin or original use of the cheer is unknown. Probable theories suggest it either refers to the stalwart defense of the football team or to one of the baseball teams, which was named the 'Stonewalls'. It might also refer to the actual stone wall that surrounds the campus, for which the baseball team was named. By the 1920s, the term hoya began to be used as an adjective to describe students and their associations on campus, starting with the student-run sports newspaper The Hoya in 1920, and the school mascot in 1926. By 1929, the term Hoyas was applied to the athletics teams themselves by publications like The Washington Post. University president W. Coleman Nevils (1928–1935) encouraged this.

In Their Own Story

According to the source, the Georgetown Hoyas men's soccer program achieved a historic milestone in 2012, finishing with an 18–4 record and securing their first-ever berth in the NCAA Championship along with their first Big East regular season title. In that same year, they advanced to the national championship game but lost to Indiana on penalty kicks after being the third overall seed. The squad set a program record with 19 wins in the 2012 season and was led by Brian Wiese, who was selected as National Coach of the Year. Later, in 2015, the team opened 0-2-1 before embarking on a program-record 18-game unbeaten streak that included a 14-game win streak, ultimately winning their first-ever Big East Championship crown by beating Creighton.

Reader's Guide

Since the early 1990s, the phrase has been painted in large letters on an abandoned trolley trestle by the university's Canal Road entrance, though it is now obscured by shrubs. The sign is an occasional target of vandalism because of its association with school spirit. Word plays and rhymes using the phrase are common, including 'Hoya Snaxa', the student-run snack shop. The school also hosts a 'Hoya Saxa Weekend' each spring to attract minority applicants through a weekend campus immersion.

Did You Know?

• The phrase was historically rendered as 'Hoya, Hoya, Saxa!', a form that is used in 'The Hoya Song' from 1930 which mocked the cheers of other universities, and was then included in the school fight song, 'There Goes Old
• Hoya is an Ancient Greek word usually transliterated as from the word meaning or as in and is used in certain biblical quotations. Saxa is Latin for or and was used in the name of some Roman settlements, such as Saxa Rub