UConn reclaims Big East title from Syracuse with 2-1 win Sunday

PROVIDENCE - For UConn field hockey coach Nancy Stevens, her 500th victory was a memorable one, for sure, coming as it did in the Big East Championship game yesterday [Nov. 8].

And the 2-1 win had to be all the more sweeter, coming as it did over Syracuse, the team that had wrested the title away from UConn a year ago by beating the Huskies 1-0 in the conference tournament final.

“I think it will help me to remember number 500,” said a smiling Stevens Sunday, as she stood in the center of Friars Field. (The only other Division I field hockey coach to record 500 wins is Beth Anders of Old Dominion).

“The coaching staff and I really love this team and I’m so happy this particular [group of young women] was the one that was able to get the 500th win,” said Stevens.

A nice pass

The Huskies scored an early goal when Big East Offensive Player of the Year Loren Sherer, a prolific scorer, this time used her skills to set up a goal, getting off a nice pass to sophomore Ali Blankmeyer, who tipped it in with six minutes gone in the first half for her 11th goal of the season.

In the second half, with UConn nursing that 1-0 lead, the Huskies took advantage of Syracuse having to play shorthanded for an eight-minute stretch because of a foul. Sherer reverted to form, and scored when Jestine Angelini fed her a pass at the left side of the circle and the forward from Essex, England slammed a sweeping shot to the right corner of the net that handcuffed Syracuse goalkeeper Leann Stiver.

That was the third time in the tournament Angelini and Sherer had teamed up for a score, something that comes from design and persistence.

Most Outstanding Player

“That shot from the corner is something Jestine and I really train hard for in practice,” said Sherer, who tied a school record for career goals with 31.

She said that personal goal was nice, but the team goal is more important.

“To tell you the truth, that [her 31st goal] was not what I was aiming for today,” Sherer said. “The first thing is for the team to win a championship,” she said.

Sherer literally had a hand in all four Husky tallies in the two tournament games, scoring both goals in the 2-0 win over Louisville in the semifinal and adding an assist and a goal in the title tilt.

That effort earned her the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honors and a spot on the all-tourney team along with teammates Melissa Gonzalez, Rayell Heistand, Kim Kryzk and goalkeeper Andrea Mainiero, who allowed only one goal in the two matches.

That goal was by Nicole Nelson, to pull Syracuse to within one with six minutes left in Sunday’s match, but Mainiero shut down the Orange for the rest of the contest, as she had done against Louisville the day before.

She attributed her success to, “our team defense. My teammates play such tremendous defense and that’s what leads to shutouts.”

The Huskies out-shot the Orange, 9-8, and also had one up on Syracuse in penalty corners, 4-3.

Underdogs

And even though UConn had won five of the past six league titles and six of the past eight, the Huskies were the underdogs going into the championship game, Syracuse having gained the top seed while UConn was seeded second.

The Orange were also ranked higher (5th) than Connecticut (7th) in the national polls.

“We’ve got so much respect for (the Syracuse) program. They always play so hard, they make us play better,” Stevens said. “We feel the two best teams met for the Big East championship here today,” she said.

Stevens credited the support given her by the university for the continued success of the program in the two decades she’s been head coach.

“I’ve been blessed to get good players,” she said. “You know, the University of Connecticut really supports field hockey and that is a big reason we’ve been able to be successful.”

That success includes eight straight berths in the Big East Championship game since 2002 and 17 overall, including 11 league championships.

UConn now stands at 19-2 and Syracuse falls to 17-3 as both squads await their assignments in the NCAA Tournament which will be announced March 10.

Posted Nov. 9, 2009