UConn redshirt senior forward Andrea Plucenik dribbles the ball during the Huskies’ game against East Carolina at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015. UConn defeated the Pirates 3-1 in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015 to advance to the American Athletic Conference semifinals. (Jason Jiang/The Daily Campus)
The No. 1 seeded UConn Huskies women’s soccer team defeated East Carolina, 3-1, in the quarterfinals of the American Conference Tournament, Tuesday afternoon.
With the win, the Huskies advanced to the semifinals and will play Cincinnati in Thursday at 5 p.m. The Bearcats defeated Tulsa 2-0 in the first quarterfinal game of the day.
The Huskies wasted no time by getting on the board in the 2nd minute of the game. Junior Rachel Hill scored from inside the box off of a deflection that trickled past East Carolina goalkeeper Saundra Baron to give UConn a 1-0 lead.
East Carolina was able to even things up, however, in the 18th minute. Autumn Berry notched her first goal of the season when she fired a rocket into the top of the net from 15 yards out to tie things up, 1-1.
That goal was not enough for East Carolina however as UConn was able to once again capture the momentum before the first half ended.
In the 39th minute, UConn midfielder Maddie Damm scored from long range to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead. The goal was Damm’s second of the season.
In the second half, UConn wasted no time putting things away when Hill struck for her second goal of the game and her 12th of the season. In the 58th minute, Kim Urbanek launched a corner kick into the box that Toriana Patterson was able to control and play to Hill in front of the net. Hill easily deposited the ball into the back of the net sealing the Huskies victory.
Once again, UConn was the aggressor offensively on the day. The Huskies had a 22-5 advantage in shot attempts in the game.
Baron had seven saves for East Carolina.
UConn played two goalkeepers in the game: Emily Armstrong started in goal and was relieved in the 74th minute by senior Allison Saucier. Both goalkeepers did not register a save.
Spencer Mayfield is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at spencer.mayfield@uconn.edu.
