As the lights illuminating Joseph J. Morrone Stadium began to flash, creating wave-like circles of strobes around the outside of the field, junior midfielder Chloe Shimkin sprinted toward the swarm of teammates on the sideline waiting for her arrival.
“I just wanted to celebrate with my team,” Shimkin said. “ They’ve been my biggest support system, and I knew I was meant to be here all along, so I owe it all to them.”
Shimkin had plenty to celebrate, as the University of Texas transfer had just netted her first goal as a Husky in front of a record crowd of 3,036 at the new Morrone Stadium. What’s more, that second-half goal, 66:43 into the contest, marked the equalizer and eventual game winner.
That win gave the Huskies (3-2-5, 1-0-1 Big East) their first Big East victory of the year, 2-1 over Providence College (2-2-7, 0-1-1 Big East).
“It was electric,” UConn Head Coach Margaret Rodriguez said. “I knew we were going to have a good crowd tonight. I’m really super proud of our community and the fans to come out here and support us, and I’m just really proud of our team to go out there and give them a show. Sometimes you get nervous with the younger team, how are we going to perform under this kind of Friday night lights atmosphere, but our team stepped up. They loved every minute of it.”
After failing to find the back of the net for three straight games coming into Saturday, sophomore Tiana Righetti broke that drought while a portion of the record-breaking crowd were still finding their seats.
Though Friars defender Stephanie Schoeley intercepted an errant pass from Huskies sophomore Ines Nourani into the penalty box, Righetti stole the ball from Schoeley on a high-effort play. Tapping the ball between Schoeley’s legs, Righetti found the ball on the other side and dumped it into the bottom left corner of the goal just 2:31 into the game.
Righetti said that the team needed the confidence that came with scoring early after struggling to generate offense in recent games.
“It was even nicer that we got it within the first five minutes because we always emphasize how important the first five and last five [minutes] of the halves are,” Righetti said.
With freshman midfielder Maeve Staunton missing a fourth-straight contest on Saturday, Rodriguez said that the team has had to get creative without its leading goal scorer on the field.
“We’re definitely missing Maeve,” Rodriguez said. “She just sees the game differently. She’s a chance creator for sure. […] It’s really just about being creative with our ball movement. Maeve will be coming back shortly, so it’ll be exciting to have her back because it’s just another offensive weapon for us.”
Rodriguez also praised senior midfielder Anaya Johnson, who made her season debut on Wednesday in the team’s 0-0 draw against Vermont on Sept. 25, as one of the players who has stepped up on offense in Staunton’s absence.
“Anaya Johnson coming back for us right when conference [play] started has helped,” Rodriguez said when talking about how the offense has adjusted without Staunton. “We’re trying to grow her. This is the most minutes she’s played so far, so that’s helped.”
Johnson notched an assist on Shimkin’s game-winning goal, Johnson’s first point of the season.
Providence netted only one of its seven shots on goal, a first-half equalizer off the left foot of Schoeley at 28:03 after a strong service on a corner kick toward the back pipe of the goal from preseason All-Big East honoree Thaea Mouratidis. Sophomore midfielder Emma Gregorski tapped the ball back into the box to give Schoeley the opportunity to rebound from her early gaffe.
That was all the Friars could muster, as sophomore goalkeeper Ava Yamas made a season-high six saves in her first win of the season. Since moving into the starting lineup in the Huskies’ 2-0 loss to Harvard on Sept. 20, Yamas has allowed three goals in four contests, notching a pair of shutouts.
The biggest save of Yamas’ day came late in the second half. Providence freshman midfielder Signe Tingager received a pass inside the penalty arc and sent a one-touch shot toward the crossbar at 81:01. Yamas went airborne to punch the shot up and over the goal, snuffing out Providence’s last true scoring opportunity.
“I think Ava’s capable of making a big-time save when we need it,” Rodriguez said. “You saw just that in the second half. She’s starting to grow back her confidence. Our team was getting confidence with her.”
The Huskies’ win marks their fourth-straight over the Friars and moves the all-time series record to 31-4-3 in UConn’s favor. The win also marks the second-straight season that UConn has gone 1-0-1 to begin conference play.
UConn will host more Big East competition Wednesday, as Seton Hall (4-1-4, 0-1-2 Big East) will travel to Storrs, Connecticut still looking for its first win of Big East play. Game time at Morrone Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
The Huskies are an undefeated 3-0-2 at home.
“When we’re at home, it’s even more to fight for,” Righetti said. “We’re in our territory, our fans are here and it’s our home.”