A UConn women’s soccer player goes up for a header last season against South Florida at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium on Oct. 17, 2014. The Huskies defeated Navy 4-2 on Sunday to improve to 3-0 this season. (File Photo/The Daily Campus)
Four members of the UConn women’s soccer team scored goals on Sunday, helping the Huskies defeat Navy by a score of 4-2 at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility in Maryland. The victory improved the Huskies to 3-0 in the 2015 season, including an unbeaten 2-0 mark on the road.
UConn challenged Navy goalkeeper Dayton Wetherby with a barrage of shots in the match’s first half, finishing the half with 21 shots. However, this only led to one first half goal courtesy of Rachel Hill in the 12th minute. Sam McGuire recorded the assist for the opening UConn goal, which gave the Huskies an early 1-0 lead. Hill’s goal, scored from a header, was her fourth goal of the young season.
Hill almost added another in the 26th minute off a pass from Stephanie Ribeiro but knocked her shot off the post. Navy then tied the game in the 36th minute when forward Natalie Dzhandzhapanyan pushed a rebound past UConn goalkeeper Emily Armstrong. The Navy goal, assisted by Rachel Feldman, sent the two teams into the locker room knotted at one goal apiece.
Armstrong kept the score tied in the early stages of the second half, making a few key saves to deny Navy shots entrance net. The Huskies then took the lead in the 58th minute on an unassisted goal from Andrea Plucenik, her first of the season. UConn quickly extended its lead to 3-1 just two minutes later when Ribeiro added an unassisted goal of her own.
Navy cut the lead back to one in the 64th minute on a goal from Karli Sottung, assisted by Eleanor Pratt. The game’s pace of play then slowed down in the following eleven minutes as the two teams traded fouls without a real scoring chance for either side.
In the 76th minute, Kim Urbanek tacked on a valuable insurance goal to extend the UConn lead to 4-2. The goal came after a pair of Wetherby saves to deny both Urbanek and Liana Hinds. The Huskies were able to hold the lead through the game’s final minutes to secure the 4-2 victory.
UConn finished the game with an overwhelming 30-10 advantage in shots. Wetherby finished the game with nine saves for Navy while Armstrong recorded four saves for the Huskies.
UConn will return home to Joseph J. Morrone Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 3 to face Syracuse at 5 p.m.
Tyler Keating is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at tyler.keating@uconn.edu.