The Huskies, coming off a national championship season, have won their first two games of this season. (File photo/The Daily Campus)
The UConn field hockey team opened their season with a 4-2 win over No. 12 Northwestern Friday in Evanston, Illinois and followed it up with a 3-0 victory against No. 15 Stanford Saturday.
The Huskies, who are currently the No. 1 ranked team in the nation after an undefeated championship season in 2017, are off to a strong start with a pair of wins against ranked opponents.
On Friday, UConn fell behind 1-0 on a Northwestern goal scored at 15:50 before sophomore Jessica Dembrowski scored to even it up for the Huskies at 18:55. Freshman Karo Kueskes put the Huskies up 2-1 with her first career goal giving UConn the lead before halftime. Northwestern tied the game at 41:24, but Kueskes and Dembrowski each added another goal to give the Huskies a 4-2 win. All four of UConn’s goals were created through penalty corners.
Junior Svea Boker had three assists for the Huskies, while junior Antonia Tiedtke added two assists. Sophomore Cheyenne Sprecher made four saves in her first career appearance in goal. UConn outshot Northwestern 19-9.
On Saturday, the Huskies rolled to a 3-0 win over the Stanford Cardinal. After a scoreless first half, Kueskes opened the scoring for the Huskies at 47:45 with her third goal of the season. Fifth-year Cecile Pieper scored two minutes later and freshman Abby Gooderham added the third goal at 53:39. UConn tallied 16 total shots and five penalty corners compared to just three total shots and a single penalty corner for Stanford.
The Huskies will have their first home game of the season when they take on Michigan State on Friday at 5:00 p.m.
Story Salit is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus and can be reached via email at story.salit@uconn.edu.