Coming off the team’s recent 167-132 victory over the Seton Hall Pirates, the UConn women’s swim and dive team will hit the road for their final road meet of the season against the New Hampshire Wildcats.
Sitting at 6-2 on the season, Connecticut opened the 2023 campaign with commanding victories over Southern Conn. State and Georgetown before dropping two straight at the hands of Villanova and Northeastern. Since the loss to Northeastern on November 4th, the program has rattled off four consecutive victories over Rhode Island, Bucknell, Vermont and Seton Hall.
In their recent victory against the Pirates, Niamh Hofland, Julia Pioso and many others led the way with a handful of standout performances. Hofland, a senior from Great Britain, recorded first-place finishes in the 1000-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle for Connecticut. The senior standout’s amazing performance was rewarded with the Big East Women’s Athlete of the Week award. In the diving events, Pioso led UConn with a third-place finish in the one-meter event and a second-place finish in the three-meter event. Rising sophomore Ella Epes took first place in the 100-yard butterfly event with a stamp of 58.02, an event in which the Huskies took first, second and third place to add 16 points to their team score.
The Wildcats roll into their Senior Day meet with the Huskies after defeating Rhode Island 166-134 on January 13th. With a record of 4-1 on the season, New Hampshire was victorious in their first three meets of the season against Vermont, Central Connecticut State and Siena. The team competed in the Bruno Invitational on November 17th where the Cats took 4th place in the six-team field before suffering their first head-to-head defeat against Northeastern.
New Hampshire is led by star sophomore Ella Guilfoil, who won American East Swimmer of the Week accolades for the third time this season. In her recent race against the Rams, the Fairport, New York native won three individual events in the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley. Additionally, Guilfoil led the 200-yard medley relay team that placed first with a time of 1:45.46.
The showdown between these two Northeast programs will take place at 1:00 pm at Swasey Pool. Coverage and results can be found at uconnhuskies.com.