STORRS – On Saturday afternoon, for the last regular season game and senior day, the UConn men’s soccer team took on the No. 13-ranked Akron Zips to a scoreless draw.
Before the match, the team honored senior players Scott Testori, Greg Maclean, Jalen Commisiong and Michael Suski, as well as student manager Steven Hu for all of their hard work and determination towards the program.
UConn had offensive ball possession for the majority of the first half, leading with five shots on goal compared to Akron’s two.
However, the defense on both teams is what ultimately carried this match.
Making his eighth shutout of the season, red shirt freshman goalkeeper Max Kerkvliet was the catalyst for the Huskies in this tough matchup against the Zips and the nation’s leading scorer in forward Emil Jaaskelainen.
Throughout the duration of the game, there was only one shot on goal, which came from the Zips in the second half in one of both teams’ chances at a game-winning goal. However, Kerkvliet kept the ball out of the box to keep UConn’s chances of winning alive.
“Overall, from the front to the back I thought we played defensively. We knew coming in that he was the guy [Jaaskelainen] we had to slow down.” Chris Gbandi said in a twitter interview when asked about the team’s defense. “I thought we did a decent job at that, but this game was our season all year; we play well against good teams, we just couldn’t find a way to get that goal to break the dead lock.”
Along with Akron’s chance at a game-winner, Connecticut had one as well, but due to Zips’ persistent defense, they would be shut out from the box as well, with the final score result being 0-0.
With another scoreless draw, it is the Huskies’ fifth of the season and their sixth tie of the season. That is the most they have ever had in their record since their 2015 campaign.
Next up, Connecticut has their eyes set on the Big East tournament.
“I think we’re a tough team to play against, we’ve played every single team in terms of the top half of the Big East, and we’ve done well, so now it’s just trying to find a way to win the game,” Gbandi said on the Big East tournament that is on the horizon. Gbandi touched on how confident he is in his team and how they can progress through the post season.
Heading into the tournament, the Huskies are sitting at the No. 7 seed and will take on Providence next Saturday at 7 p.m. in Rhode Island.
If Husky fans wish to tune into the match, they can do so by streaming it on ESPN+.