University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies, Eagles Match Up In Second Round
11/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 14, 2009
Directions to the Newton Campus Soccer Stadium
NEWTON, Mass. - The University of Connecticut women's soccer team returns to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year hiatus making their 27th appearance in the 28 years of the tournament. After defeating Boston University on Friday night in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament 1-0 in double overtime, the Huskies move on to play Boston College in the second round on Sunday, November 15 at 1 p.m. at the Newton Campus Soccer Stadium.
UConn's 27 years in the tournament is No. 2 among all Division I women's soccer teams just behind North Carolina who has played in an NCAA Tournament Game for 28-straight seasons.
The Huskies 500th program victory was solidified on a goal by senior Brittany Taylor (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) who netted the game winner for UConn in the 108th minute of play.
Like BU, the Huskies have played the Eagles already this season, but it was in exhibition play and the game did not count towards the overall record. UConn fell in that game to the Eagles, 3-0.
The Huskies started off the season dropping a couple of games to top ranked teams before they won nine of their next 10 games including a six-game win streak with a victory over then-No. 8 Wake Forest.
At the end of the season, UConn had a few setbacks as were on the road during three of their four last weeks before the tournament. During that time the Huskies registered a 1-4-2 record drawing their only win at DePaul while tying West Virginia and Villanova.
The Huskies appeared in the First Round of the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time in their history and was knocked out for the first time in penalty kicks earning a 1-1 tie at Villanova.
Freshman Linda Ruutu (Espoo, Finland) leads the Huskies with eight goals scored and four assists for 20 points. She has played and started in all 20 games on the season. Following right behind Ruutu is sophomore Melissa Busque (St. Bruno, Quebec) who has recorded six goals and six assists on the season for 18 total points. Busque leads the team in shots taken with 65, and has also played in all 20 games on the season missing just one start on senior day.
Boston College is led by the DiMartino sisters Victoria and Gina. Victoria is the ACC Freshman of the Year and leads the team in goals and points recording a remarkable 14 goals this season along with four assists for 32 points. Gina, an All-ACC second team honoree follows right behind her with seven goals and six assists for a total of 20 points tallied this season.
Leading the way in goal for the Eagles is Jillian Mastroianni who earned All-ACC First Team honors this season. She has played in each and every game this season seeing close to 1850 minutes in goal and allowing just 10 goals in 21 games for an unbelievable .49 GAA. Mastroianni had recorded 12 shutouts this season making 55 saves on the year.
FOLLOW THE GAME: The game can be followed via Gametracker on UConnHuskies.com and can be heard in its entirety on WHUS.org.
SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE: The Eagles have had an outstanding season and are currently 16-3-2 on the year. They opened their season with a nine-game win streak posting victories over each and every non-conference opponent before dropping their first couple games of the season at then-No. 6 Florida State (3-2) and to then-No. 1 North Carolina (2-1).
After those two losses, BC continued their season on an eight-game undefeated streak before earning their third loss of the season to North Carolina in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in double overtime.
Boston College is 3-3-2 over top-25 opponents this season earning their three victories over Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. Their ties came against Maryland and Virginia.
SERIES HISTORY: The Huskies first met with Boston College in 1980 and hold a commanding 26-5-3 series record over the Eagles. Their last regular season game against the Eagles came in 2007 which ended in a double overtime 0-0 tie.
UConn and BC has played each other in each of the last preseasons with the Huskies winning in 2008, 2-1 and the Eagles taking the victory in 2009, 3-0.
The Huskies and Eagles met every single year from 1980-2004 before the two teams halted competition. They played once again in 2007 but have not met since then.
POSTSEASON MEETINGS: The two teams have surprisingly only met four times in the postseason, two of those meetings coming in the BIG EAST Tournament when BC was a part of the BIG EAST. UConn is undefeated against Boston College in the post season posting a 2-0 record in the BIG EAST Tournament and a 2-0 record against the Eagles in the NCAA Tournament.
The first time the two teams met in the postseason was in the NCAA Tournament in 1983. The Huskies won 2-0 in the Quarterfinal Round at home in Storrs, Conn.
UConn and BC played twice in the BIG EAST Tournament in 1998 and 1999 with UConn earning both victories in the semifinal round.
In 1999, after the BIG EAST Tournament both teams met once again, this time in the third round of the NCAA Tournament in Piscataway, N.J. The Huskies dominated and won by a score of 5-0.
LAST TIME OUT: After not playing a game in over two weeks, the Huskies took on Boston University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Neither team could get on the board in regulation, though it looked as though Brittany Taylor had recorded her first goal of the season in the first half. Part of the soccer ball crossed over the goal line, but before the whole thing could make it over, BU goalie Janie Reilly stopped it to save the goal.
It didn't matter though because in the second overtime period, Taylor cashed in firing a laser shot that could not be stopped to give the Huskies the 1-0 golden goal victory.
Ally Mancino got the start in goal for the Huskies for the second time this season as Jessica Dulski was still not 100% from her injury suffered at Villanova. She played brilliantly making some game changing saves and finishing with a career high five stops on the night.
HUSKIES IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Huskies have made it to the tournament 27 times in the last 28 seasons including a 26-year streak.
UConn holds an overall 44-26-2 tournament record which breaks down to:
First Round: 14-5-1
Second Round: 12-0-1
Third Round: 6-2-0
Quarterfinals: 7-11-0
Semifinals: 4-3-0
Final: 0-4-0
UConn is undefeated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in their 27 years competing in the event. They have posted a 12-0-1 record in their first 26 seasons in the tournament.
500 VICTORIES: With their win over Boston University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies earned their 500th program victory in the 31-year history of the team. The program has an outstanding win percentage (64.7%) losing just 154 games in 31 years. (500-154-45)
Out of the 500 victories, 283 have come at home, 161 have come on the road and 56 have happened at neutral sites.
As the head coach of the Huskies for the past 29 years, Len Tsantiris has seen his fair share of victories.
Tsantiris currently has a 473-143-42 record at UConn and a 104-19-7 BIG EAST record. His 100th BIG EAST win came at Providence on Sept. 18.
GOAL SCORING: The Huskies have outscored their opponents this season 31-24. UConn severely outscored the Huskies of 2008 by 12 goals also tallying three less shutouts than last season.
Twelve different Huskies have recorded a goal this season out of the 32 goals scored. Seven of those 12 have had multi-goal efforts on the season.
The goal total: Ruutu (8), Busque (6), Cunningham (3), Shufelt (3), Clark (2), Fugowski (2), Giddings (2), Dakin (1), Diakun (1), Ebert (1), Garufi (1), Taylor (1).
HUSKIES AT HOME: This season, the Huskies were undefeated on their home turf at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs until their final game of the year. UConn was 8-0 entering their final weekend of play and tied West Virginia 0-0 after two overtime periods on Friday night. But on Sunday, Pittsburgh upset the Huskies 1-0 at home handing them their first home loss of the season.
CLARK ON A ROLL: Erin Clark has been on a roll in the Huskies' victories. The junior forward recorded a point in five-straight UConn victories from Sept 13-Oct 2. She is the first Husky to do so since Meghan Schnur. Schnur recorded a point in six straight victories at the beginning of the 2007 season.
THE INTERNATIONAL CONNECTION: Ruutu and sophomore Melissa Busque have been able to find each other on six of the Huskies 31 goals. The sophomore forward has recorded an assist on four of her freshman counterpart's goals.
Ruutu helped out Busque for the first time of the season in a crucial overtime goal to give the Huskies the win over Boston University and again at Marquette on Oct. 9 to record the second goal of the game.
Busque is a native of Quebec while Ruutu comes to the Huskies from Finland.
The two also amongst the team leaders in goals scored in 2009. Both Ruutu and Busque have recorded six goals in 2009.
STRONG HUSKY D: The defenders on the women's soccer team are some of the strongest in the BIG EAST. Led by BIG EAST Defender of the Year, Brittany Taylor and Lauren Ebert and accompanied by All-BIG EAST Third Team member Kacey Richards and freshman Danielle Dakin, the UConn defensive line has let up just 24 goals this season in 19 games, 14 of those goals coming in conference play.
The D has contributed on the offensive side of things as Dakin, Ebert and Taylor have both recorded a goal on the year, Ebert also has tallied an assist, and Taylor has five assists to her credit this season.
RACKING UP THE AWARDS: So far this postseason, senior defender Brittany Taylor has been the recipient of three awards. She was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year, Earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors and recently was named to TopDrawerSoccer's Second Team of the Season.
For the TopDrawerSoccer award, Taylor is in the company of the women's soccer elite surrounded by players from North Carolina, Stanford, LSU and Florida State to name a few.
HUSKIES IN THE RANKINGS: The Huskies jumped back into the NSCAA rankings during the week of Oct. 4 after their 2-0 performance on the weekend. UConn is now #24 in the country in the NSCAA poll and 13 in the Soccer America Poll. In the NSCAA Northeast Regional poll, the Huskies received their highest ranking of 3 this week behind Notre Dame and Rutgers.
During the week of Sept. 21, for the first time in the 2009 season, the University of Connecticut women's soccer team was ranked in three polls. The Huskies were ranked 25th in the NSCAA poll, 23rd in Soccer Times, and 16th in SoccerAmerica's Top-25.
The Huskies began the year ranked No. 21 in the Soccer America poll but fell out after dropping their first two games of the year to BYU and then No. 8 Penn State. Slowly but surely, the Huskies have been clawing their way back into the polls.
GIDDINGS GETS THE GOALS (AND AWARDS): After her two goal performance against Wake Forest on September 13, England native Georgina Giddings received numerous awards for her efforts. The two goals that Giddings scored in the game tied the amount of goals that Wake Forest had let up in their first seven games.
Giddings was named to TopDrawerSoccer's national team of the week as well as CS360's Primetime Players of the Week.
TOP TEAMS: In the 20 games the Huskies have played this season (including the exhibition against Boston College) UConn faced off against five top-25 teams (BC, Penn State, Wake Forest, St. John's and Notre Dame) and two teams that are currently ranked in the polls (BYU, Marquette).
HUSKIES IN THE RPI: UConn has played some tough teams in 2009, pulling out huge wins over the likes of No. 8 Wake Forest.
Because of this, they were ranked 11th in the first RPI of the season. They were the highest ranked BIG EAST school followed by Notre Dame in the 23rd spot.
In the second RPI to come out this season, UConn dropped a bit but was still ranked in the top-20 coming in 19. They were the second ranked BIG EAST team, as Notre Dame has moved up to 10 in the rankings.
In the final RPI, the Huskies dropped to 26 in the rankings, and the third BIG EAST School behind Notre Dame and West Virginia. Their tough non-conference schedule coupled with the usual difficulty in the BIG EAST helped keep the Huskies' RPI high and allowed them into the 64-team NCAA tournament.
MEDIA INFORMATION:
RADIO - UConn's campus radio station WHUS (91.7 FM) has broadcast all of the Husky women's soccer home games during the regular season, as well as selected road contests... WHUS' broadcasts can be heard live on the Internet at WHUS.org and will be linked to UConnHuskies.com.
E-MAIL - To receive updated information on UConn Soccer, e-mail Betsy Devine at elizabeth.devine@uconn.edu with the message "Women's Soccer E-mail" as the subject.
WEB - Please visit UConnHuskies.com for up-to-date stories, stats, schedules and results, and other UConn athletic department information ... Gametracker is available for the majority of women's soccer games, linked from the front page of UConn's athletic Web site.
ON THE TUBE: The Huskies had just one game on TV this season as Cox TV broadcasted the West Virginia game on 10/23.
