HANOVER, N.H. – Heading into Big East play next week, the UConn men’s soccer team (5-0-1) capped off the majority of its nonconference schedule with a 2-1 win over Dartmouth College (1-2-1) on Friday night at Burnham Field.
Despite the Big Green being ranked 163rd in Massey Ratings, Friday’s match stood out as the Huskies’ most physical of the season up to this point, with nine yellow cards and two red cards issued from the opening whistle until the clock came to 90 minutes. Dartmouth was picked to finish seventh out of eight teams in the Ivy League.
In the 38th minute, senior captain Guillaume Vacter got on the score sheet for the second time in his career. The defender from Paris, France found the back of the net off a loose ball in the box from a corner kick. Sophomore defender Kieran Chandler, named to the All-BIG EAST Third Team last season, was credited with an assist.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Max Kerkvliet made a major impact in the first half. The Houston, Texas native made two huge saves to keep the Big Green scoreless. Before coming into the game, Kerkvliet’s career high was six saves in a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Aug. 29. He reached a new career high in saves on Friday, recording seven saves.
At the midway point, the Huskies went into the locker room up a goal. However, Dartmouth had the upper hand in total shots with eight to Connecticut’s three.
It didn’t take long for UConn to double their lead coming out of the locker room. In the 47th minute, forward Michael Suski took advantage of an error by the Dartmouth defense to score his second goal of the season. The Avon, Connecticut native is off to a strong start in his first season in Storrs after spending most of his collegiate career at Boston College and Syracuse University.
In the 60th minute, the Big Green finally found the back of the net after multiple chances to score. Forward Trenton Blake, recognized as the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, got his feet on a loose ball toward the top of the box and fired it through traffic to get past Kerkvliet. The sophomore from Tallahassee, Florida has now scored in three straight games for the Big Green and serves as the team’s leader in points, with eight this season.
Dartmouth caused some self-inflicted wounds, with a pair of red cards being handed out to the team. Central midfielder Raphael Owusu received his second yellow card of the game in the 77th minute. Two minutes later, Panagiotis Karagiorgis, who plays center and left back, received a second yellow card, bringing the Big Green down to nine players for the remaining eleven minutes, which definitively put the game out of reach for them.
The Huskies had a handful of players receive yellow cards. In the first half, midfielder Sabri Hanni and defender Johan Hamel received yellow cards while Suski, along with defenders Max Gummesson and Elijah Hope received cautions in the second half.
UConn was outshot at full-time, with Dartmouth leading 21-7.
The Huskies have been successful against Dartmouth in the past, with a 7-0-3 record against the Big Green since 1995. Their last loss in the series’ history came in 1994 on the road.
UConn’s win moved the Huskies up to 33rd in the Massey Ratings as the third-best team in the Big East behind Seton Hall University (8th) and Creighton University (26th).
Connecticut has three nonconference opponents remaining, including Fairfield University, the University of Vermont and Bryant University. The Huskies will face some challenges against those opponents, ranked 206th, 52nd and 59th respectively.
Dartmouth, on the other hand, has a handful of nonconference games, including three before they begin conference play in the Ivy League. Their schedule begins with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst at home on Tuesday night.
To open Big East play, the Huskies will travel to Chicago, Illinois on Friday to play DePaul University. UConn was projected to finish fourth in the East Division of the conference prior to the season, while the Blue Demons were projected to finish last in the Midwest Division.