The UConn women’s lacrosse team dominated on home turf Saturday afternoon, bouncing back from their previous loss to James Madison University, with a 19-2 win over Manhattan.
UConn took control of the game early in the first quarter where they scored a total of eight goals. With just 23 seconds into the game, attacker graduate student Eliza Bowman scored the first goal of the game off a pass from teammate junior Rayea Davis. Shortly after, graduate student Jenna Giardina doubled the Huskies’ score with an unassisted goal past Manhattan’s goalie, junior Danielle Serbinski.
Manhattan had a few scoring attempts shortly after the Huskies took a 2-0 lead, but UConn’s goalie, graduate student Tori Cini, kept the Jaspers off the board.
However, UConn did not stop there. They went on to score another five goals in the first quarter, with Bowman earning herself a first quarter hat trick when she added another two goals to the scoreboard for the Huskies.
Davis had yet another assist on the third goal for the Huskies, as junior Karsyn Burnash netted it past Serbinski. She also went on to net two of her own goals for the Huskies.
The Huskies entered the second quarter with a commanding lead and left Manhattan desperately trying to catch up. Davis had a standout game, scoring three rapid goals almost instantaneously once the quarter began. It should come as no surprise to fans that Davis is constantly at the net. The New York native entered this game leading the Huskies in goals (11) out of their three-game season so far.
It was a memorable game for junior Barlow Clark-Schoeb, as she got the first goal of her Husky career in the second quarter on a free position shot. She went on to net another goal before the end of the quarter as did freshman Anna Magennis. Manhattan eventually got on the scoreboard before the second quarter ended as sophomore Moira Marcozzi netted one past Cini.
Down 14-1 entering the third quarter, Manhattan switched their goalie in hopes of turning things around. However, attacker sophomore Eve McGrogan could not be stopped as she scored the 15th goal of the game for the Huskies.
In addition, UConn made a goalie switch, where sophomore Sofia Oximana made crucial saves to keep the Jaspers with just one goal on the board. The offense was on fire for the Huskies as redshirt sophomore Ava Plata continued to dominate on the field and scored the 16 goal for the Huskies.
It was an understatement to say that the Huskies were in a pretty safe place entering the fourth quarter, yet they still proved they could do more.
Senior Anna Zimmerman scored her first goal of the season quickly into the fourth quarter and right behind her was Clark-Schoeb who earned herself a hat trick for the afternoon. To wrap up an extremely successful game for the Huskies, sophomore Tori Tomalia stole a Jaspers pass and went the other way down the field to score the 19th and final goal of the game.
This game is certainly up for debate as to being one of the best in the Huskies program history. A season high 19 goals, not one, but two hat-tricks and only allowing two goals from the opposing team.
Looking ahead, the Huskies will use momentum from this game to face off against Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. The matchup is set for Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. This is a must-watch game to see if the Huskies can keep their opponents away from the net, while also keeping pressure on the offense to score goals of their own.