In the rematch of the 2024 Big East Championship where the Huskies took home the championship on Alayna Taylor’s game winning goal, the two teams could once again not determine a winner after 90 minutes.
UConn faced off against the steaming hot number 24 ranked Xavier team that was 6-0-1 in their last 7. In those 7 contests, the Musketeers outscored their opponents 29-4.
The action got started in the fourth minute when Regan Dancer took her first shot of the night, one that went well over the net.
Freshman goalie Ava Yamas saw her first action seven minutes into the game when she made a save on a Samantha Erbach shot.
Peyton Kohls took her first shot of the night in the tenth minute which went far right. Minutes later, Kohls had a one on one with Anna Carson. However, she put too much on the shot and it trickled out of bounds. Kohls took another shot which was tipped by Yamas and was rolling around inside the box. Carson and Elin Hansson went for it and the ball landed in the net for the Musketeers. The celebration was short lived for Xavier as the offside flag went up against Hansson.
UConn finally showed signs of life on offense when Chioma Okafor had a breakaway opportunity. Xavier’s goalie Maria Galley jumped out of the net and dove at Okafor, preventing any real chance for the Husky star.
Xavier was back on the offensive front when Reese Slater crossed a pass right to Hansson whose shot went right to Yamas’ hands.
Okafor had another chance a little over halfway through the first, but her run deep into enemy territory did not result in a shot. On the other side, Dancer found Hansson with a great pass, but Yamas applied enough pressure for the shot to go far right.
The luck ran out for Connecticut a few minutes later as Dancer centered the ball to Kohls who took one touch and fired a shot past the outstretched arm of a diving Yamas and into the top right corner of the net for a Musketeers.
The Huskies had one last chance in the first half as Kaitlyn Richins sent a free kick into the box where it found the head of a UConn player. The touch was way too high and Connecticut was once again stalled on that half of the pitch.
The halftime whistle sounded but not before Okafor picked up a yellow card for tripping a Xavier player around midfield.
UConn finally got some offense going to start the second half. Farrah Stephens-Martin found herself on a breakaway and let a shot fly towards Galley. The senior punched it up in the air and kept the Huskies off the scoreboard momentarily.
A few minutes later Se-Hanna Mars found Martin who got past her defender and found herself with a golden opportunity. The Kansas State transfer kicked it past a diving Galley and into the net for a UConn goal.
Deja Vu almost struck for the Huskies as Mars and Martin connected again minutes later. This time it was not the same result as Martin’s shot soared far right.
Emma Flick had one of the few opportunities for Xavier in the second half, but it was saved by Yamas. Xavier had multiple chances in the second half but made sloppy mistakes when given the opportunity. One opportunity was when Yamas turned the ball over on a goal kick and it fell into the feet of Flick. She rushed a shot forcing it far left, and it proved to be the last real opportunity for Xavier in the game.
Mars made another play when she found an open Riley Prozzo with a chance to take the lead. The Boston College transfer hesitated for a moment before sending a shot wide left. Whether she was trying to avoid an offside penalty or just hesitated is unclear, but the game remained knotted up at 1 through 80 minutes.
The last chance for the Huskies came in the second to last minute when Abby Merchant sent a corner kick which stayed in the box for a little bit, but no Huskies could get a foot on it.
The game ended in a draw and Connecticut moved to 5-2-2 on the season. A big draw for Head Coach Margaret Rodriguez’s team who had not had much success against the Musketeers outside of last year’s championship game.
Next up the Huskies head to Washington D.C. to face number 20 ranked Georgetown on Saturday.