If you’re a Husky fan, you could not have scripted up the UConn men’s soccer team any better.
Especially after this past Friday, when the Huskies pulled off the upset versus the No. 10 Akron Zips, 3-1, to open Big East play. With this win, the Huskies earned three points in Big East standings, as well as remain unbeaten on the season (6-0-3).
Despite Connecticut taking home the win, the match did not start out in their favor.
In the 21st minute, Akron got themselves on the board first with a goal from Stefan Dobrijevic in the corner.
Even with one goal under their belt, the Zips would not be able to put another one in to increase their score due to UConn goalkeeper Kyle Durham’s impressive efforts in between the pipes.
The red shirt sophomore finished the game with six saves throughout the entire match, one of them being featured No. 1 in the SportsCenter top 10 Saturday night. This save came in the second half of the game, where he swatted the ball once in the top right corner of the net, and then again off a rebound at the crossbar.
The New York native has proven himself time and time again to be a defensive catalyst for the Huskies this season, boasting a SV% of 0.891 on his 2025-26 campaign. This shows that even without goalkeeper Max Kerkvliet from last season, Connecticut can still find success in between the sticks.
Although the Huskies had various attempts to knot the score at one in the first half, the score would still be 1-0, Akron, heading into intermission.
Red shirt freshman Sabri Hanni was the one to score the equalizer for Connecticut around 11 minutes into the second half. Hanni flipped around to net the ball in the upper corner of the net, notching his second goal of the season.
With both squads vying to rack another goal on the board, it wasn’t until the 69th minute that the Huskies scored the second goal of the game, as well as the lead.
Graduate student Balthazar Saunders managed to score his third goal of the season, rebounding the ball off Akron’s goalkeeper, in what would be the game-winning goal.
Saunders had a tremendous game, having been involved in all three of the goals scored in the match and racking up the most points ever in a game in his career.
In the 79th minute of the match, freshman Preston Alessio put a lid on the game for the Huskies with his first career goal.
So far, in just nine games in a UConn jersey, Alessio has attained a goal and an assist.
“The will, the grit the determination from the group,” Chris Gbandi said postgame in a post on the teams’ twitter, “we’re currently one of the few teams that haven’t lost a game, but nobody seemed to have the respect for us. We showed today that we can play anybody in the country.”
Next up, the Huskies will return to Storrs for another top 20 matchup to take on the No. 17 Bryant Bulldogs. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. If Husky fans cannot make it to the pitch, they can tune in to the match on UConn+.