Sacred Heart received the opening possession to start the game on Friday evening, and that proved to be one of the best goal-scoring opportunities they had all day.
Once the Huskies gained possession of the ball, they never looked back. The second minute saw the first of many chances for the Huskies. Chioma Okafor pushed the pace and sent a pass to the middle of the field, which was headbutted by a Husky in the direction of the goal, but did not cross the line. Lucy Cappadona, the newly elected captain for the 2024 fall season, also had a shot in the second minute of play.
The next opportunity for the Huskies came in the seventh minute, as a header by Okafor was saved by Kyran Thievon, Sacred Heart’s goalie. The Huskies looked to be building something in the ninth minute, but a miscommunication led to an out of bounds turnover.
Sacred Heart got their first shot attempt just a moment later from junior Jaci Budaj, but the shot was wide and ended up out of bounds.
The next 20 minutes of play saw the ball on Sacred Heart’s side of the field nearly the entire time. UConn looked to be in a prime position for a score in the 13th minute, however the referee signaled for an offside penalty. The turnover woes continued for the Huskies in the following moments, as Okafor was whistled for a foul, nullifying a possible UConn shot attempt. Only a minute later, Thievon squandered a goal opportunity off a cross pass from freshman Lydia LeBlanc.
Anaya Johnson had her first of many good looks at the net in the 19th minute, but her shot was altered by Kelly Medeiros of Sacred Heart. Johnson then crossed the ball to Okafor, who got a decent shot off, but it was deflected out of bounds. Okafor had another shot on goal in the 23rd minute but it was too high and soared out of bounds. A few ticks later, Alexandra Taylor reared back for a shot, but it did not have enough and was grabbed by Thievon.
Sacred Heart finally got the ball into UConn’s side of the field six minutes later as Grace O’Hara charged up the field and crossed the ball to Shea Kheller. However, she collided with a UConn defender and the ball was knocked out of bounds.
Maddie Carroll took her first of four shots on goal for UConn soon after, though Thievon was able to grab the save.
UConn’s best opportunity up to this point came in the 34th minute as Johnson stole a pass from Sacred Heart and went flying up the field. She was able to send a great ball to Okafor, forcing the goalie to come out in an attempt to save the ball. Okafor got a shot off and the ball was primed to cross the goal line, before it was kicked away and out of bounds in a great effort by Kelly Mediros.
Johnson found Okafor once again two minutes later, but she had her shot deflected. The 41st minute saw another one of the newly elected captains, forward Abbey Jones, attempt her first shot by way of a header, but that was saved by Thievon.
In the 42nd minute, UConn finally broke through Thievon and the Sacred Heart defense. After the ball was crossed to the middle, a flurry of passes ensued until Alayna Taylor was able to get her foot on it and put the ball into the back of the net.
The Huskies went into halftime up 1-0 thanks to the goal by the freshman from Glastonbury, CT.
MaryKate Ward entered as the UConn goalie in the second half, replacing Kaitlyn Mahoney.
The second half was a chess match for the first six minutes. That was until Taylor set up Jones for a perfect shot opportunity from right outside of the box which was denied by Burnett. Taylor and Chloe Landers each got shots up in the 51st and 55th minutes, but they were both saved.
The best opportunity of the entire game for Sacred Heart came in the 58th minute after a controversial foul call on Johnson led to a free kick for the Pioneers. Lindsay McShea crossed the ball to Martyna Krzysztopik, who had her shot saved by Ward.
Carroll then had three separate attempts on the goal, to no avail. An out of bounds shot, one saved by Thievon and a headbutt from the sophomore out of Manchester, CT, could not get past Thievon.
In the 71st minute, Cappadona had the ball at midfield when she dropped a beautiful pass into the box. Johnson barely grazed her head onto the ball, which was just enough to direct it into the goal for the Huskies second goal of the game.
UConn scored for the third time in the 77th minute after a corner kick deflected off the shoulder of Jones and into the net.
The horn sounded and UConn left their spring campaign finale with a 3-0 victory. The Huskies can now focus on their big fall season ahead with many positives from Friday’s contest. Ryder, LeBlanc and Johnson were all over the place making defensive plays and great passes throughout the game. Coach Margret Rodriguez can now look to learn from the spring season play and create her best lineups going into the fall season.