After two tough losses in a row, the UConn men’s soccer team redeemed themselves on Friday night with a 3-0 shutout win against the Creighton Bluejays.
Right out of the gate, both teams were vying to get points on the board. However, goalkeeper Kyle Durham protected his team between the pipes, preventing the Bluejays from scoring, as did Creighton’s goalkeeper.
Durham, a red shirt sophomore, put on quite the performance in this match. The New York native recorded a career-high of 10 saves in this win and ranks third among all goalkeepers in the Big East conference, with his fifth shutout of the season.
“He’s doing pretty well; he’s really helped us and saved us and kept us in some games. If he continues to play like that, then we give ourselves a chance,” Head coach Chris Gbandi said when asked about Kyle Durham.
Despite neither team getting a point on the board in the first half, the Huskies had a surge of three goals in the second half of the match. This is the fourth time this has happened to the Huskies, all those times resulting in a victory for the Huskies.
In the 53rd minute, junior defender Ayoub Lajhar secured his first goal of the season, putting the Huskies on the board first in the bottom left of the goal post off the dish from Austin Brummett.
Then, just three minutes later, Lajhar notched his second point of the game with an assist to freshman Edward Wester. Lajhar crossed the ball across the goal to Wester, where the forward kicked it in to give the Huskies the 2-0 lead.
“We’ve had a group of left-backs that have done well here,” Gbandi said when asked about Lajhar. “He’s a great player, he works hard. I think today all the work that he has put in has really shown for people to see.”
Up until the 87th minute, when the Huskies racked up their third and final goal, the Bluejays attempted to dig themselves out of their rut to get themselves on the board — but this was where Durham came to play.
In just these 30 minutes, Durham made seven out of his 10 saves in the entire match.
Then, freshman Preston Allesio scored the game winning goal off a pass from Alfonso Arredondo, where Allesio headed the ball into the net.
“To be honest, not too much, because. I thought we were playing pretty well in the first half,” Gbandi said postgame when asked what sparked the second half surge. “And for whatever reason we just couldn’t the ball in the net. In the second half, the guys were just more determined and worked pretty hard. We got a pretty good win.”
With this win, Connecticut has a 7-2-3 record on the season and a 2-1 record in Big East play.
Next up, the Huskies will head to the nation’s capital to take on the Georgetown Hoyas, this Saturday, Oct. 11. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., and Husky fans can tune into the match on ESPN+.