University of Connecticut Athletics
Graczyk Leads UConn's Rally Past St. John's
10/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
STORRS, CT (October 21) – In a game that carried huge ramifications for BIG EAST Tournament seeding, the University of Connecticut women’s soccer team came out on top, defeating BIG EAST Northeast Division foe St. John’s 4-1 on the strength of two goals by junior Kristen Graczyk (Albuquerque, NM) Tuesday evening at Morrone Stadium in Storrs. With the victory, UConn improves to 9-4-3 in 2003 and sits atop the BIG EAST Northeast Division with 12 points. The Red Storm slip to 8-8-1, 3-3-0 in conference play.
UConn continued its recent trend of starting slowly, and fell behind 1-0 early in this contest. At 19:02, Kaitlin Schmidt controlled a loose ball at midfield and turned on the jets, beating four UConn defenders downfield. Schmidt dribbled into the box and snuck a shot just out of the reach of diving Husky keeper Erin Rice (Keller, TX). UConn had a bevy of good scoring chances in the first half, but fell victim to a combination of bad luck, and brilliant Red Storm defense. St. John’s had two team saves in the first session, the more remarkable coming at the 33 minute mark. Freshman standout Nikki Cross (Pembroke, MA) lofted a perfect ball into the box towards a waiting Graczyk. Graczyk made a good move towards the ball and hit a header with some steam on it towards the net. St. John’s keeper Tracey Rollings dove the wrong way, but St. John’s sweeper Claudia Rubino lunged towards the goal and kicked the ball over her head back towards the box and out of danger’s way just before the ball crossed the plane.
However, UConn stormed out of the gates in the second half and left St. John’s seeing red. UConn notched four goals in the second half, including the game-tying and game-winning goals by Graczyk within three minutes of each other. Alisse Kosloski (Wernersville, PA) was credited with the assist on Graczyk’s second goal. Kosloski hit a roller form the far side to Graczyk who collected it and blasted a grounder inside the near post, putting the Huskies up for good. Kristi Lefebvre (Colchester, VT) and Jessica Gjertsen (Stony Plain, Alberta) finished off the Husky scoring.
Rice made three saves for Connecticut and Megan Jessee (Orefield, PA) played the final 15 minutes, making two acrobatic saves.
The Huskies return to action for their final BIG EAST regular season showdown in 2003, with a match-up against Syracuse. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m. and senior day festivities will be held before the contest.
