University of Connecticut Athletics
Spring Coming To An End For Women's Soccer
4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
STORRS, Conn. (April 20, 2006) - Over the past three weeks, the UConn Women’s Soccer Program has gone 4-0 during spring season play. The Huskies have been led by its young goal scorers in freshmen Brittany Tegeler (Baldwin, Md.) and Lizzy Eng (Chicago, Ill.), midfield playmaker Meghan Schnur (Butler, Pa.) and Niki Cross (Pembroke, Mass.), a versatile athlete who has played in all positions this spring, including goalkeeper.
On April 1, UConn faced off with a solid Alumni team that included four former WUSA players and All-American ties, including Kerry Connors (’97), Carey Dorn-O’Brien (’00), Margaret Tietjen (’99) and Jen Tietjen-Prozzo (’99). Also playing were Sarah Barnes (’98) & Laruen Molinaro (’01), who played in the central midfield together during their trip to the National Championship game in 1997, and Tammy Barnes-Zacchera (’97), who played in the Senior Umbro All-Star game after finishing her senior season in 1996. The 2005 senior class, which included Kathleen Frank (Lansing, Mich.), Megan Jessee (Orefield, Pa.), Kristi Lefebvre (Colchester, Vt.), the team MVP, Kristine Lundberg (Bardu, Norway), Karlyn Miselis (Glastonbury, Conn.), Kim Noivadhana (Wilton, Conn.) and Jen Sullivan (Stonginton, Conn.) also participated. Chrisy McCann-Rich (’99), another former All-American and WUSA player who is pregnant, coached the alumni team. The current Huskies took an early lead on a tremendous individual effort by Tegeler, but the Alumni tied the game later that half off a corner kick. During the second half, Eng made a far post run and drove a volley into the far post to regain the lead for the Huskies. Again, the alumni came from behind and scored off a Tietjen goal to tie the score at 2-2 and send the game into overtime. After three overtime periods, Tegeler drove down the left side, spun out and played a ball back to the top of the 18 yard box where freshman Kristen Connolly drove a 1-touch shot far post to win the game. This marks the first year that UConn has beat the Alumni since 1999.
The following weekend, Connecticut played two shortened games versus the Under-17 Connecticut ODP team and Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). While Brittany Taylor (Campbell Hall, N.Y.) and Schnur were out for the weekend, Tegeler, Eng and Cross scored early goals that allowed UConn to take a comfortable lead against the ODP team in the first game. UConn’s defensive line, which consists of two freshmen in Ashley O’Brien (Broad Brook, Conn.) Jessica Diakun (Glastonbury, Conn.) and two sophomores in Karyn Riviere (Guilford, Conn.) and Sarah MacIsaac (Bedford, Nova Scotia), denied offensive opportunities in both games while helping the team to maintain possession. The spring season has given this young group valuable experience that will help them compete for positions next fall. In the second game against CCSU, UConn controlled play throughout the game, but created more dangerous scoring opportunities in the second half, spurred, in part, by pairing O’Brien with Eng as defensive midfielders. The two worked well together to control the team’s distribution, improve the speed of play and allowed for an increased range of defensive pressure. With O’Brien and Eng’s strong play in the middle, the offense began clicking after Alex Zedros (Melrose, Mass.) scored on a head ball off of an O’Brien corner kick. Ten minutes later, Zedros tallied a second goal off of scrappy play in the box to help UConn advance past the Blue Devils 2-0.
Last weekend, the Huskies took on Yale in a battle of no goalkeepers. While the Bulldogs were able to use a field hockey goalkeeper in net, Cross and Maryann Hoke (Anchorage, Alaska) shared time in goal for UConn. O’Brien and Eng both scored for the Huskies while Schnur organized the team’s high pressure defense and combined with Tegeler, Eng and Taylor to control the tempo. Taylor, who played in only her second game of the spring season because of three different stints with the U-20 National Team this semester, looked sharp throughout the match.
The last spring game is this Saturday, April 22 versus the Boston Renegades at Bowditch Stadium in Framingham, Mass. at 6:00 p.m.
