University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Fall to Boston College in BIG EAST Final
11/17/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, NJ (November 17) – The University of Connecticut men’s soccer team dropped a 3-1 decision to Boston College in the championship game of the 2002 BIG EAST Tournament. UConn dropped to 15-5 on the season, while the Eagles won its third conference title improving to 16-4 overall.
Bobby Thompson put the Eagles on the board at the 20:19 mark of the first half. Adam Pfeifer crossed a ball to the near side of the field, deflecting off UConn defender Marcus Svensson (Kivek, Sweden). Thompson secured the deflection and sailed to the opposite side of the net over the reaching hands of netminder Adam Schuerman (Brookfield, WI). Boston College took the two-goal lead with 11:35 left in the half. Pfieffer again made a complete cross to the opposite side post. Oktay Kilic and Schuerman both went up to reach the ball first. Schuerman punched the ball back into play, while Kilic managed to get a piece of his head on it as it bounced over the line and into the net. Connecticut had more than its chances in the half, out shooting the Eagles, 15-4. In the 15th-minute, Anthony Curtis (Kingston, Jamaica) placed a ball into the left side of the box, Boston College keeper Kyle Singer punched the ball away before it hit the foot of Cesar Cuellar (Santa Cruz, Bolivia).
UConn closed the scoring gap within the first 10-minutes of play in the second half. Leandro de Oliveira (Sao Paulo, Bolivia) took the shot from the far side of the box hitting the opposite post and bouncing back out. Although it looked like it hit off the chest of Cuellar, it actually deflected into the net off the foot of Guy Melamed. Boston College notched its third goal at the 66:31 of the game. Melamed redeemed himself scoring on a low shot just inside of the left post as Schuerman made the dive seconds late. Connecticut came within one once again with 5:53 left on the clock. Cuellar crossed the ball and the banked in for the score. UConn had the chance to tie the score with under five-minutes left in regulation when Lindon Pecorelli (LaCrescenta, CA) was taken down just outside the top of the box. Damani Ralph (Kingston, Jamaica) nailed the ball to the outside left of the net. With under a minute left, UConn had two successive corner kicks but couldn’t come up with the goal.
Schuerman only had one stop in the loss, while Singer made eight saves. Connecticut out shot Boston College, 26-7, with Ralph out shooting the Eagles with 10 solo shots. Thomas was named the 2002 championship’s Most Outstanding Performer for the second time in three years. He won the honor as a sophomore in 2000 when BC won its second title also held at Yurcak Field at Rutgers.
Connecticut will await is fate in the 2002 NCAA Tournament when the pairing are announced on Monday, November 18 at 4:30 pm.
