After beating Siena at home 2-1, the University of Connecticut’s men’s soccer team looks to extend their unbeaten streak as they face Dartmouth in New Hampshire on Friday.
The history between these two team’s dates to as early as 1988, when the Huskies won 3-1. Since then, Connecticut has won most of the matches, with their most recent victory on Sept. 21, 2021. In that contest, the Huskies shut out the Big Green 1-0 after a goal by Moussa Wade in the first half.
Dartmouth is looking to take their record from 1-1-1 to 2-1-1, after they tied 2-2 against Saint Mary’s last Sunday. In this game, Dartmouth opened the scoring with two goals in the first half, but Saint Mary’s responded in the second, while Dartmouth was unable to catch back up.
Players on the Big Green the Huskies will have to look out for are sophomore forward duo, Trenton Blake and Vasilis Moiras. Blake currently leads the Big Green with six points and is known to be the main focal point of the team’s offensive attack. Moiras is not far behind with five points so far this season.
In order to win this game, the Huskies will need to confide in players like Sabri Hanni and Scott Testori. Hanni has put on quite the show for his team this season after not seeing any game action last year. He has been the team’s go-to for penalty kicks and has scored in every single match, except when the team played LIU.
Testori has also had a stellar season with six points so far. He plays like a quarterback on the pitch, known to set up his teammates for goals on the scoreboard. Like Hanni, he averages around one goal and one assist per game.
The team will also need to fix their consistency, by shaking the rust off quicker, especially in the first half where they often find themselves in scoring droughts. For example, the squad came up short in the first half of the match against Siena, but finally got points on the board in the second. With goalkeeper Max Kerkvliet up their sleeve, though, they frequently prevent their opposers from scoring.
It is set to be quite the matchup between these two teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Burnham Field in Hanover, NH. If Husky fans are interested in watching the match, they can livestream it on ESPN+.