The UConn men’s soccer team fell to the Tulsa Hurricane in penalty kicks during Sunday’s American Athletic Conference Finals after being knotted at one goal a piece for 110 minutes.
The loss dropped the Huskies to a (9-5-6) overall record. The team will now be forced to wait for a potential at-large bid to the NCAA tournament on Monday.
Sunday’s loss put a damper on UConn’s thrilling 2-1 victory over the second-seeded South Florida Bulls on Friday. The Huskies advanced to the AAC finals after scoring twice in two-minutes.
Junior midfielder Sebastian Brems recorded his first career Division 1 goal at the 55-minute mark, thanks to a beautiful pass from freshman teammate Moustapha Samb.
UConn doubled their lead 1:50 seconds later when junior co-captain Kwame Awuah found freshman forward Abdou Mbacke Thiam for his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
USF junior forward Nazeem Bartman put the Bulls on the board in the 78th minute on a curling free kick past UConn goalkeeper Scott Levene; however the Bulls were not be able to close the gap. The Huskies would advanced to Sunday’s AAC finals on match against Tulsa after handing USF a 2-1 defeat on their home field.
The Huskies got off to a quick start Sunday after redshirt-senior Tyler Leeman notched his third goal of the season three minutes into the game. Awuah was credited with his team-leading 11th assist.
However the Hurricane retaliated with the equalizer late in the first half when freshman forward Miguel Velasquez rifled a shot that sneaked past Levene on the near post.
The teams played 20 minutes of scoreless overtime play before advancing to the shootout. Levene had two saves in the shootout despite falling short 4-3.
NCAA men’s soccer selection show is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 16, at 1 p.m. UConn has only missed the tournament once in the last 17 years.
Eddie Leonard is a staff writer for The Daily Campus, covering UConn men’s soccer. He tweets @EddieLeonard23.
