University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Soccer Tops Mountaineers, 2-1
10/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
STORRS, Conn. (October 21, 2005) - The University of Connecticut women's soccer team clinched the first seed in the BIG EAST tournament after tonight's 2-1 victory over West Virginia. The Huskies improved their record to 13-3-1 overall and 9-1-0 in the BIG EAST while the Mountaineers slipped to 9-4-3 overall and 6-2-1 in the BIG EAST.
Redshirt sophomore Meghan Schnur (Butler, Pa.) began the scoring for the Huskies with an unassisted goal at the 7:55 mark of the game. Freshman Brittany Taylor (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) took a shot off a corner kick by senior Kristi Lefebvre (Colchester, Vt.) that was saved by West Virginia’s Amanda Cicchini, but the deflection went right to Schnur who beat goalkeeper Lana Bannerman to her left to put the Huskies up, 1-0.
West Virginia came close to evening the score on a free kick attempt, but freshman keeper Stephanie Labbe (Stony Plain, Alberta) made the save to maintain the Huskies' lead.
With under three minutes remaining in the first half, the Huskies would capitalize on another corner kick by Lefebvre to increase their lead to 2-0. Lefebvre's kick found freshman Maria Picard (Upton, Mass.), whose shot was initially saved by Bannerman, but the Mountaineer goalkeeper was unable to hold onto the ball and Taylor tapped in what would eventually be the game-winner for Connecticut.
UConn controlled the tempo of the first half, out-shooting West Virginia 7-4. It was not until the second half that the Mountaineers began to challenge the Husky defense. A Connecticut foul awarded West Virginia a penalty kick by Marisa Kanela, but she was unable to take advantage of the opportunity as the ball sailed just wide of the goal.
The Mountaineers recorded nine of their 13 shots in the second half, but were only able to convert on one. Kanela took a shot that bounced off of Labbe and right into the possession of Mountaineer sophomore, Kim Bonilla. Bonilla tapped the ball into the net to bring the Mountaineers within one.
The score would remain 2-1 until the final buzzer. The teams shot evenly, with West Virginia taking the advantage 13-12. Labbe made 10 saves on the night while Bannerman registered six.
The Huskies will be back in action again on Sunday, Oct. 23, hosting Pittsburgh for the final game of the regular season. Prior to the game, the team's eight seniors will be honored with an on-field presentation sponsored by Careerbuilder.com. The game is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Morrone Stadium on the Storrs Campus.
GOALS BY PERIOD...........1 2 Total
West Virginia....................0 1 1
Connecticut.....................2 0 2
SCORING SUMMARY
1. 7:55 UC Meghan Schnur (unassisted)
2. 42:15 UC Brittany Taylor (unassisted)
3. 75:21 WVU Kim Bonilla (Marisa Kanela)
SHOTS: Connecticut 12, West Virginia 13
SAVES: Connecticut 10, West Virginia 6
