UConn junior captain Jake Nerwinski is seen scoring his game-winning goal in the 80th minute of the Huskies’ game against UCF at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs, Connecticut on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. (Jason Jiang/The Daily Campus)
Junior captain Jake Nerwinski scored the winning goal in the 80th minute to give UConn’s soccer team a 2-1 win over UCF on Saturday night at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium.
The victory, UConn’s first since Sept. 19, improves their record to 4-5-4 (1-3-1 American). UCF falls to 5-7-1 on the season.
Nerwinski’s goal came at the 79:50 mark on a corner from fellow co-captain Kwame Awuah. Awuah delivered a cross to the far post that Nerwinski was able to drive into the back of the net. It was just the third goal of Nerwinski’s career.
UConn got on the board first, when Abdou Mbacke Thiam slotted a shot to the top corner of the net in the 43rd minute. Awuah also assisted on that goal. It was Thiam’s team leading fourth goal of the season.
Shortly into the second half, UCF was able to equalize off a corner. Matias Pyysalo whipped a ball into the box, finding Mason Miller who was able to head it past a diving Scott Levene.
Levene was able to step up to record his fourth win of the 2015 campaign. He finished with two saves, including a pivotal sliding challenge against Pyysalo to knock away a curling shot attempt.
As has been the case all season, UConn’s offense was the deciding factor. When scoring two or more goals, the Huskies are 3-0-0. It is pivotal moving forward that UConn finds a way to get consistent offensive production, whether coming off set pieces or in the run of play.
Playing in front of a sold out crowd at Morrone Stadium, UConn improved to 3-1-4 at home.
UConn is next in action Wednesday Oct. 21st when they head to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls.
Elan-Paolo DeCarlo is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at elan-paolo.decarlo@uconn.edu. He tweets @ElanDeCarlo.
