University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies End Season in NCAA Quarterfinals
11/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
STORRS, CT (Nov. 30) – The University of Connecticut women’s soccer team suffered a 2-1 loss on Saturday to the Penn State Nittany Lions in the NCAA Quarterfinal Round at Morrone Stadium. With the win, Penn State advances to the Final Four, hosted by the University of Texas in Austin, TX next weekend. The Huskies end their season at 21-3-1.
Brittany Barakat (Arlington, CT) scored another quick goal, this one coming just 46 seconds into play, as the Huskies pulled ahead, 1-0, in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA College Cup. The play started when Sarah Popper (Penn Yan, NY) sent a long pass up field to Kristen Graczyk (Albuquerque, NM) who dribbled around a defender and found an unguarded Barakat in front of the net. Barakat got the ball around goaltender Amanda Brown at 44:46 to beat her fastest goal time of 1:10, scored against Florida State last weekend in the third round. The lead only lasted about three minutes, however, as Amanda Lohman capitalized on a corner kick to tie the score 3:29 into the half.
In the second half, both teams tried for the game-winner and it looked like overtime was imminent when the Huskies committed a foul that led to a PSU direct kick. Lohman’s initial shot was deflected by a UConn defender but not cleared, as Leigh Hamilton scored her first goal of the season for the game-winner at 86:32. Connecticut tried intently to tie the game with no luck.
Goaltender Maria Yatrakis made four saves in net for the Huskies, as Brown stopped four as well. The Nittany Lions will face the winner of the Stanford-Portland game on Friday, December 6 at 5 p.m. Eastern.
