UConn Huskies Sports Roundup for October 15th, 2011

Good early morning everybody. This is the first post to be originally posted on the Blogger site. So welcome all on this Homecoming Saturday.

Football: It's the Homecoming Game today in East Hartford. The South Florida Bulls roll into The Rent to take on the Huskies, who were clobbered last week by West Virginia. The Bulls are 4-1 on the season, but are 0-1 in conference after a loss to Pittsburgh. UConn is 2-4 overall and 0-1 in conference, and if we want much of any chance of making a bowl game, we probably have to win today. Kickoff is at 3:30 PM today on SNY and Big East Regional Television. For more information on TV, see here.

Men's and Women's Basketball: First Night was held last night to kick-off the 2011-12 season. I watchedd about five minutes on ESPN3 then remembered why I didn't like it last year either. Incredibly pointless show.

Men's Ice Hockey: In their AHA opener, the Huskies defeated Army, 5-0. Goalkeeper Garret Bartus earned his first career shutout and Cole Schneider scored two goals en route to the victory. Last week's AHA Player of the Week Brant Harris scored a goal as well. The Huskies are now 1-1-1 on the year (1-0-0 AHA) and will face UMass-Lowell on the road in a non-conference game Tuesday at 7:00 PM.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies defeated Pittsburgh 1-0 last night at home to improve to 7-6-2 overall and 4-3-2 in the Big East. Linda Ruutu scored for the Huskies as Jessica Dulski recorded a shutout. With the Providence loss to West Virginia yesterday, UConn can clinch a berth in the Big East tournament if they beat West Virginia on Sunday at 1:00 PM. That Senior Day game will be aired by Huskies All-Access and WHUS. The Mountaineers are second in the American Division. A Providence loss or tie to Pittsburgh would also send the Huskies through. If UConn loses/ties and Providence wins, it will come down to next Saturday's matchup in Providence.

Women's Ice Hockey: UConn made a valiant effort against #5 Minnesota-Duluth, but just couldn't get it done, losing 5-4.  It was a hard-fought game throughout, good considering the Bulldogs played us twice last year and beat us by a combined score of 12-0. The two teams square off again today at 4:00 PM before the Huskies open up Hockey East play next weekend against Maine. On Friday at 7:00 and on Saturday at 2:00, the Black Bears roll into Freitas Ice Forum. Both game are available on All-Access.

Men's Soccer: The shutout streak may be over, but we're still #1 and will look to keep it that way tonight at 7:30 PM against Pittsburgh. That game is on Huskies All-Access, but apparently not WHUS (who has the football game). The Panthers are 2-2-0 (but only 4-8-1 overall), good for fifth place in the Blue Division. The Huskies are 3-0-1 in Big East play, which places them in second place in the division, behind Marquette, who is 6-5-2 overall but 4-0-0 in Big East play. Georgetown and West Virginia are right behind the Huskies, at 3-1-0. UConn has yet to play any of those three teams, and following the Pitt game, will play all three of them consecutively.

Women's Volleyball: The Huskies look to win their first Big East game tonight as they host the St. John's Red Storm at Gampel Pavilion at 7:00 PM. St. John's is 9-13 overall and 0-5 in Big East play, so this could easily be our first win of the year. Next weekend, we head to Villanova on Friday at 7:00 PM before taking on Georgetown Sunday at 2:00 PM. 

Field Hockey: The #4 Huskies will host Princeton tomorrow at 2:00 PM. Gametracker is available through the UConnhuskies.com website. The bigger game is next Sunday at Sherman as the Huskies host the #5 Syracuse Orange. That game will determine who wins the Big East Field Hockey Regular season championship. Of course, that team will face a much easier First Round matchup at J.S. Coyne Field on November 4th, while the other one will likely face #20 Louisville just to get to the Championship game. And there will likely only be one regional hosted by a Big East team this year, so UConn and Syracuse both will be looking to win the title. Not to mention, the Orange came to Sherman last year for the Big East Tournament and beat us in the final, so we'll be looking to get revenge.