If you’re familiar with the food chain, you might know that lions tend to be near the top of whatever circles they wander into. They eat zebras and wildebeests, among other large mammals. Rarely though are the lions the ones getting feasted on. On occasion, crocodiles and hyenas will find their way to snack on a lion, but these opportunities don’t come all too often. Regardless of what the food chain usually looks like, the UConn Huskies had lion for dinner Wednesday night in their lacrosse-style four course meal.
It’s been an up and down season for Connecticut, sitting at an even 4-4 after their dissection of Columbia. But generally, when they win, they beat the breaks off their opponents. They smacked the Lions 17-1, their third victory by 12 or more goals. It’s tough to argue that this was the most dominant though, with the Huskies outshooting their visitors 39-9.
Everyone on the homeside played well at a minimum, but the star of the show was Abby Charron. The senior attacker from Canton had an exceedingly good game from a scoring perspective, typically focusing on distribution. Her 2 assists on the night would have been a normal line along with no goals, but she netted 4 on Wednesday. That doubles her previous career high of 2 and more than doubles her season total on the scoring end.
This performance came out of nowhere, but perhaps this was a regression to the means of sorts. She’s tied for the lowest efficiency of the team’s top eight contributors on the season, connecting on just 25% of her shots. She was 4/5 against the Lions though, improving her average to 41%. Yes, it’s a small sample size, but it’s also encouraging for the team as they look to spread the goals across their roster.
Though Charron was the star of the show, the team also enjoyed tremendous contributions from Lauren Barry and Eliza Bowman. Each of the two recorded hat tricks, with Barry only needing a trio of shots to get there. Neither Barry nor Bowman is relied upon for their scoring, though it is a luxury when they can help the cause. They’re tied for fifth and sixth in terms of goal scorers on the Huskies and this could be an excellent confidence boost for them to improve on that.
Barry got the first bite of the meal with a goal in the first minute of action and Bowman got involved two minutes later with one of her own on the score that ended up being the game-winner. Susan Lafountain and Charron each helped the cause as the Huskies peppered the Lions’ helpless goalkeeper. By the time the first course had concluded, it was already 9-0 in favor of the home side.
Barry drilled the back of the net to score one of Connecticut’s three in the meal’s second course and they were already starting to get full and slow down. It was a demolition that was completely unrelenting, with Columbia limping towards the finish line.
Fortunately for the Lions, the Huskies let their hors d’oeuvres fill them up. By the time the main course rolled around, UConn wasn’t too hungry, notching a trio of goals while letting one in — the only of the game. Dessert was uneventful as the Huskies were already stuffed, managing just one more goal. The 16-point win they finished with was perfectly indicative of their Thanksgiving-esque devour session, with hardly any mercy shown.
Star Kate Shaffer, who had an outstanding performance in her last game against Marist, deferred to her teammates more this time. She scored just once but dished out three assists, a piece of her game that’s taken a slight hit since last year. It’s also of note that team-leading scorer Rayea Davis sat out.
The Huskies get a break from their out of conference action, starting Big East play on Sunday. And the games don’t get any bigger than this one. They face No. 10 Denver, the team that beat them in the Big East championship last year and has always had their number.