UConn men’s soccer forward Fredrik Jonsson fights off a Memphis defender during the Huskies’ game against the TIgers at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in Storrs, Connecticut on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015. (Amar Batra/The Daily Campus)
The UConn men’s soccer team went down the stretch of the season strong. Coach Ray Reid’s squad went their last five matches without a loss. The three-seeded Huskies will take on the six-seeded Temple in the American Athletic Quarterfinal at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
UConn (7-5-5) finished the regular season with a 2-1 overtime victory over No. 11 USF on Halloween night at Morrone Stadium to lock up the No. 3 seed in the league tournament.
Redshirt-sophomore Andrew Geres scored his second goal of the season in the first half of play. With the score tied, three-time defending American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week, Abdou Mbacke Thiam, slotted home a penalty kick to seal in the win with less than five minutes remaining in overtime.
During the course of his tenure, Reid has guided the Huskies to seven total conference tournament titles. The team is 3-0-2 in two seasons of competition in The American Championships and will be searching for its first league conference title since 2007 (Big East).
Dating back, to 2013, UConn is 3-0-1 all-time against the Owls, including a 2-0 win at Ambler Sports Complex on Oct. 21. In their last three matches against the Owls, the Huskies have scored 10 total goals, a far cry from the limp offense they have displayed for the majority of the season.
Since the start of the 2011 campaign, UConn is 44-6-10 (.817) when playing at Morrone Stadium. Since the team joined The American prior to the start of 2013, it owns a 20-4-7 (.758) mark on its home field.
Scoring has been the biggest concern for UConn all year. In order to advance in this tournament, UConn must look to score first. The Huskies have scored first in eight of their 17 games this season leading to a 6-1-1 record in those games. Additionally, the team is 3-0-1 when leading at halftime and 5-0-0 when scoring multiple goals.
The Huskies will kick off against the Owls Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Morrone Stadium.
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.
