Junior Olivia Miles attacks with the ball earlier this year (Nicholas Hampton/The Daily Campus)
The UConn women’s lacrosse team outscored Cincinnati 8-2 in the final 20 minutes of the game, but it wasn’t enough to erase a big early deficit. The Huskies would fall 11-9 in their first American Athletic Conference matchup of the season on Saturday afternoon.
UConn (2-9, 0-1 The American) scored the first goal of the game, but then the offense went dormant until the second half, which gave Cincinnati (5-5, 1-0 The American) the chance to go on an incredible run. The Bearcats would score nine unanswered goals over 38 minutes of game time to go up by a commanding 9-1 lead.
It looked like it was going to be a blowout win at home for Cincinnati, but the Huskies weren’t going down without a fight. Their offense came back from the dead behind an incredible performance from senior captain Caitlin Leary. She scored six goals total, including three in the last six minutes to make the game interesting.
Sophomore Abby Vetsch, junior Olivia Miles and sophomore Sam McKenna each scored a goal in the comeback effort as well.
UConn owned the last 20 minutes of the game, scoring eight of the game’s final 10 goals, including the last four. The defense also cracked down, making some key stops and causing turnovers. Junior defender Alyssa Conklin led the team with four caused turnovers.
Junior Grace Beshlian played a solid game in net despite the loss, recording 12 saves on Cincinnati’s 23 shots on net.
Freshman Kylie Nause and junior Monica Borzillo who led the Bearcats with three goals each. Borzillo added an assist for a four-point day.
It was a tale of two halves for the Huskies. If they played in the first half how they did in the final 20 minutes, it probably would have been a UConn victory. However, they were only able to muster up six shots on net in the first half, and Cincinnati was able to build up an insurmountable lead.
The fight in the UConn team was evident, as they never gave up until the final whistle and they pushed Cincinnati to the limit. Efforts like these will almost certainly lead to some wins in the future.
The Huskies’ next game will be against Dartmouth on the road on Tuesday afternoon. This game was originally scheduled for last month, but it was postponed due to weather.
Danny Barletta is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at daniel.barletta@uconn.edu .
