Okafor Notches Hat Trick, Huskies Clinch Spot In BIG EAST Tournament

Thursday, October 27

Storrs, Conn.

7:00 PM

University of Connecticut

8-6-3, 4-4-2

Seton Hall

5-10-3, 1-8-1

Seton Hall

UConn

Okafor Notches Hat Trick, Huskies Clinch Spot In BIG EAST Tournament

10/27/2022 10:43:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

STORRS, Conn. - The UConn women's soccer team (8-6-3, 4-4-2 BIG EAST) clinched a spot in the BIG EAST Championship with a 4-0 win against Seton Hall on Thursday night at Morrone Stadium.

UConn celebrated its six seniors with a Senior night ceremony prior to the match. Jessica Mazo, Emma Zaccagnini, Kara Long, Cara Jordan, Jackie Harnett and Duda Santin were honored with Long and Santin playing their final match in Storrs.

A UConn freshman stole the spotlight, though, with freshman phenom Chioma Okafor notching a hat trick for the Huskies. It was the first hat trick for a UConn player since Sophia Danyko-Kulchycky did it at Cincinnati in 2018.

Okafor scored her first goal just 5:52 into the match off a UConn corner kick. Jackie Harnett served the ball into the box and Seton Hall attempted to clear it but Okafor was able to knock the clearance down and deflect it to Jada Konte, Konte dropped a pass back to Okafor who buried the chance.

10 minutes later, Okafor found herself all along inside the box after a ball was deflected by a Pirates defender right to a streaking Okafor. The freshman buried her opportunity to make it 2-0 Huskies.

In the second half, the Huskies continued to apply the pressure with Jackie Harnett drilling a free kick into the box that was knocked down by the Seton Hall keeper but went right to the Blantyre, Malawi native who slotted home her third of the night.

Jada Konte added a fourth goal at the 61:11 mark and the Huskies were well on their way to securing their eighth win of the season. For Konte it was her fifth goal of the season, which puts her in a tie with Okafor for the most goals on the team.

The UConn defense also shined with its third straight shutout and seventh this season. Kaitlyn Mahoney made three saves in the effort.

With the victory, the Huskies have clinched the sixth seed in the BIG EAST Championship and will play at No. 3 seeded St. John's on Sunday, October 30 at 1 p.m. on FloSports.