UConn Sports Roundup, November 18th

Alex Gerke and UConn got
the blowout win.

Men's Ice Hockey: On Wednesday night, Alex Gerke recorded a Hat trick in a 8-3 blowout over Sacred Heart. Good to see the Huskies win again. Next up is a game at Yale tomorrow at 7:00 PM. It will be on WHUS.

Men's Basketball: The Huskies defeated Maine 80-60 last night. Maine was within six at halftime, but the Huskies did a great job pulling away in the second. I didn't get a chance to watch anything but highlights so i can't comment much, but we're 3-0 against three weak teams that we should have done better against.

Men's Soccer: Monmouth beat Stony Brook on Penalty Kicks last night, so we will face them Sunday at 1:00 in the Second Round o the NCAA Tournament. The game will be on WHUS and UConnHuskies.com. Winner will face either Wake Forest or #14 James Madison next Sunday.

Field Hockey: The Huskies currently lead UNC 3-0 with 15 minutes to go in the National Semifinal. Winner will face the late game winner (Maryland or Old Dominion) for the championship on Sunday at noon. Watch today's game here. Update 3:22 PM: Goal UNC. 12:20 left and it's 3-1.Update 3:30 PM: UNC scored another goal apparently making it 3-2, but it was wiped off for being too high. Still 3-1, under five minutes to go. Tar Heels have a man advantage since they pulled the goalie.Update 3:35 PM: 3-2. 56.5 seconds left.Update 3:36 PM: And the Tar Heels get another goal. 23.6 seconds left in regulation and a 3-3 tie. I'll post a fuller summary when it's done.Update 4:00 PM: UConn successfully defends two penalty corners to wrap up a scoreless OT1. Fifteen more minutes of sudden victory and then penalty strokes if we're still tied.Update 4;11: Goal Tarheels. UNC wins 4-3.

Football: Gameday vs. Louisville is tomorrow at noon. More on that tomorrow.

Women's Volleyball: Jordan Kirk earned all Big East second team honors. More here.

UConn Huskies Sports Roundup, October 27th, 2011 (UPDATED)

Here we go again. Heading into a big weekend, here is today's roundup.


Men's Soccer: In a crucial Blue Division matchup, the Huskies defeated Marquette, 3-0. The Huskies are now 14-1-2 on the season. Allando Matheson opened the scoring and Mamadou Doudou Diouf added two more as UConn rolled to victory. This pulls us within one point of the Golden Eagles for first place in the Blue Division. If we can beat Seton Hall Saturday night, then with a Golden Eagles loss or tie to Pittsburgh, we will win the Blue Division outright. A win would earn us a first-round bye and a home quarterfinal as the #2 see regardless of what Marquette does. The game vs. the Pirates gets underway at 7:30 PM and will be on WHUS. The Golden Eagles will host Pitt at 8:05 Eastern, or 7:05 PM CT local. And really, we should beat Seton Hall. They're 0-7-0 in Big East play. Then again, they did manage a scoreless tie with Maryland. This could be a trap. Update: According to the Seton Hall athletic website, the game will now start at 1:00 PM. It should still be on WHUS, though I have not confirmed tis.

Football: An ugly loss for the Huskies last night, falling 38-20 to Pittsburgh. So much for turning this season around. We now fall to 3-5 overall and 1-2 in Big East Play. In order to get to a bowl, we will need to get through Syracuse, Louisville, Rutgers, and Cincinnati with at most one loss. Not happening. This season is likely over for us.

Men's Ice Hockey: The Huskies will play their first home game of the year tonight when Atlantic Hockey foe Holy Cross comes to Freitas Ice Forum at 7:05 PM. The action will continue Saturday night at 7:05 as they face Army at home. Currently, UConn is 2-2-1 and 1-0-0 in AHA play.

Field Hockey: The Huskies will look to clinch the Big East regular season title outright tomorrow at 3:00 PM when they face Rutgers. Gametracker will be available on Rutgers' website, but no webcast. The Huskies will hen face Princeton on Sunday at 2:00 PM to wrap up the regular season.

Baseball: Just a reminder, the tentative 2012 baseball schedule is up on my site here.

Thursday Morning UConn Huskies Roundup (October 13th, 2011)

Good morning, UConn fans! It's starting to get chilly here in the Northeast. But it's now just over three months until I go back to school from medical leave. Here's your roundup.

Men's and Women's Basketball: First Night is this Friday night at 7:00 PM, with doors opening at 6:00. Pretty much the only remotely interesting thing they do all night is introduce this year's players.  They also have giveaways that with several thousand fans competing, you're probably not winning. If you don't want to waste an hour or more of your time just watching this overrated garbage, there's plenty of other sports stuff you can do Friday night at 7:00 PM. Read on for more.

Football: The homecoming game is this Saturday at 3:30 PM vs. USF. Forecast is mostly sunny and a high near 67. The Huskies are 2-4 on the season and 0-1 in Big East play. If we want any chance of going to a bowl this season, we probably have to win this game. Otherwise, we need to go 4-1 down the stretch, which is doubtful. Even 3-2 I doubt we can do. But if we start 2-5, we're almost certainly not going bowling this December.

Men's Soccer: Well, the shutout streak is over. After 961 minutes and 32 seconds, the Huskies conceded a goal on a bad angle shot that Andre Blake really should have saved. Nevertheless, thanks to two goals by Mamadou Doudou Diouf, the Huskies won 2-1. This was almost a disaster for UConn, however. With the score 2-1 and time running out, Andrew John-Baptiste headed a ball away from danger just before it crossed the goal line. That would have made it 2-2 and the Friars would have had all the momentum heading into Overtime. Instead, a win's a win, and the Huskies will take it. Next up, the Huskies will host Pittsburgh on Saturday at 7:30 PM. That game will be on All-Access, but evidently not WHUS. With a 3-0-1 record in Big East play (and 12-0-1 overall), the Huskies are in second place in the Blue Division, two points behind Marquette and one ahead of Georgetown and West Virginia. The Huskies have not faced any of those teams yet, and will face the Mountaineers in Morgantown and the other two at home.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies will conclude their home schedule with two games this weekend. First, on Friday night at 7:00 PM (First Night time), they will host the Pittsburgh Panthers at Morrone Stadium. Then on Sunday at 1:00 PM, it's Senior Day, as the American Division leading West Virginia Mountaineers come rolling in. The Huskies are 3-3-2 on the season in Big East play, and 6-6-2 overall. This puts them a mere two points ahead of Providence for the final Big East Tournament spot. The Huskies and Friars will square off in Providence on Saturday, October 22nd, in the final game of the season for both teams. As UConn's travel partner, the Friars will also host West Virginia and Pitt this weekend. So, it's a critical end to the year. As for game coverage, the West Virginia game will be on All-Access, while Pitt will not be. Both games will be on WHUS, however.

Women's Ice Hockey: On Friday and Saturday, the Huskies will play host to the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. Friday's game will be at 7:00 PM (First Night time), while Saturday's will be at 4:00 PM. UMD is ranked #7 in the country, so these games will be a major challenge for us.

Men's Ice Hockey: The Huskies open Atlantic Hockey play on Friday night at 7:05 as they travel to West Point to face Army. Live video is available on Army's website. The Black Knights have played one game this year, an 8-1 loss to Union.

Women's Volleyball: The Huskies will return to Gampel Saturday night at 7:00 PM to face St. John's. The Red Storm also do not have a win in Big East play, so this is a very winnable game to get back on the right track.

Field Hockey: The Huskies host Princeton on Sunday at 2:00 PM for the first of two non-conference meetings this year. The Tigers have had a very disappointing season and will look to prove something against the #4 Huskies. Next Sunday is an even bigger game for UConn, as they host #5 Syracuse in a contest that will almost certainly decide the Big East regular season champion.

UConn Sports Roundup/Preview, October 10th (UPDATED)

As promised, a look ahead to the Week to Come, which of course, is Homecoming Week. For info on what happened over the weekend, see my last post or click here.

Men's and Women's Basketball: Friday Night is First Night. It is the biggest mockery of basketball that will happen all year. But if you're interested, the event starts at 7:00 and doors open at 6:00. More info here.

Football: Following the humiliating loss to West Virginia, the Huskies return home to host USF on Saturday at 3:30 PM. That game will be on SNY and Big East Regional Television. This is pretty much a must-win game for the Huskies who come in 2-4 and 0-1 in Big East play. After USF, they head to Pitt in a nationally televised game on Wednesday, Octoer 26th, so it doesn't get any easier. But why are they playing college football on Wednesday nights? Ridiculous.

Men's Ice Hockey: The Huskies will open up their Atlantic Hockey Schedule on Friday night as they travel to West Point to face Army. The Huskies are 0-1-1 on the season and are looking to live up to heightened expectations following their AHA semifinals appearance last year.

Men's Soccer: The Huskies will look to extend their shutout and unbeaten streaks Wednesday at home against Providence.  They will wrap up the homestand Saturday against Pittsburgh. Both games are at 7:30 PM. They are each available on All-Access but only Providence will be on WHUS due to the football game. The NCAA record for shutouts is 11 games without allowing a goal, and right now the Huskies have gone nine. So, that record could fall soon. For now though, the Huskies are 11-0-1 overall, and 2-0-1 in Big East play. Critical home games against Georgetown and Marquette are still to come. 

Field Hockey: Just one game for the Huskies this week, Sunday at 2:00 PM against Princeton. The Huskies actually face Princeton twice this year, the other time being in the last game of the season. But the Tigers have had a disappointing year this year. The Huskies will be looking to take the victory. After the Princeton matchup, the Huskies will host Boston University under the lights on the 19th, before hosting Syracuse at noon on the 23rd in a game that will in all likelihood, decide the Big East regular season champion. The Huskies will clinch the regular season title with a win there, and if the Orange beat Georgetown on Friday (which they should) it will assure them the title with a win as well. Normally, I'd say this doesn't matter, but with the "Big Three" of UConn, Syracuse, and Louisville, and the Cardinals almost certainly getting the #3 seed, it would help to avoid them. 

Women's Ice Hockey: The 0-2-2 Huskies look to notch one in the win column when they play a two game series against Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs will come into Freitas Ice Forum on Friday at 7:00 PM (note: the same time First Night begins) and again on Saturday at 4:00.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies wrap up their home season this weekend with games against Pittsburgh and West Virginia. The Pitt game will begin at 7:00 PM on Friday (same time as First Night) while they will face West Virginia on Sunday at 1:00 PM on Senior Day. They will conclude the regular season on Saturday, October 22nd at Providence at 1:00 PM. Currently, the Huskies are two points ahead of the Friars for the final Big East playoff spot and one point behind St. John's for the right to host an Opening Round game. They will almost certainly play in the 4-5 matchup instead of bypassing the Opening Round, since #3 Syracuse has 15 points, four more than the Huskies with three games to go.

Women's Volleyball: Coming off a narrow loss to USF, the Huskies will look to bounce back. They wrap up their non-conference slate tomorrow at 7:00 PM against Fordham, before hosting St. John's Saturday at 7:00 PM. The Rams game will be on All-Access, while the Red Storm matchup will only be on GameTracker. St. John's is even with the Huskies at the bottom of the Big East at 0-5. So, this is a game the Huskies can win.

Update 4:50 PM: Three Huskies were announced as weekly award winners earlier today. Men's soccer Goalkeeper Andre Blake was named Big East Rookie of the Week after his 9th straight shutout and Field Hockey freshman phenom Chloe Hunnable received Big East Offensive Player of the Week thanks to her three goals and one assist. Additionally, Brant Harris was named Atlantic Hockey Offensive Player of the Week thanks to his three goals over the weekend.

UConn Sports Roundup, September 28-30, 2011

Note: Due to Rosh Hashanah, this post includes information I would post through September 30th, which includes information on weekend contests as well, to the extent that I would mention them between now and Friday. I will likely post Friday night after sundown, but in case I don't, here goes....

Men's Soccer: Last night very nearly proved to be a disaster against lowly Yale for the Huskies. The score was 0-0 after regulation. That was only because Yale misfired just over the crossbar as time expired in the second half. It would have been a split second call as to whether it was a goal or not. In real-time it was clear it was past the crossbar (and goal line) prior to the horn, but the horn isn't automatically sounded at 0:00. There's a second delay or so. So if that ball had gone in, however they called it would have ignited furor. But thankfully for all of us, it missed high. Also thankfully, Nickardo Blake scored with one minute left in the second OT to spare us all the pain of a scoreless draw. The Huskies are a perfect 9-0-0 and will face #8 Louisville in a critical road test at 7 PM Saturday night. The Cardinals are looking to bounce back from a loss to Notre Dame and don't want to start 0-2 in Big East play to expect them to come out hungry. No word yet on whether that game will be on WHUS. GameTracker will be available however, though. Louisville currently does not list the game on All-Access although they do list future men's soccer games there. I'm guessing there's some reason none of these places can confirm that they're broadcasting it. What that reason is, I don't know.

Field Hockey: The Huskies go under the lights at Sherman tonight to face the UMass Minutewomen. The Huskies are 7-1 overall and tied for first in the Big East at 2-0 in conference. And the soccer team isn't the only Top-5 Huskies program to play Louisville in a major contest Saturday night. Louisville, who got the two seed in the Big East Tournament a year ago but was knocked out by the Huskies in the first round, will be back in Storrs for the first time since that weekend in November. That game will be on Saturday at 12:00 PM. The Cardinals are 1-1 in Big East play and 7-3 overall. And unlike the Huskies, they've already played (and lost to) Syracuse. And while regular season titles may not matter much, bear in mind that in all likelihood the "Big Three" are going to get the top three seeds in some order. And the #4 seed will be a weaker team. So the #1 seed has an easy first game (provided they don't fall into a trap) while #2 and #3 still have to fight it out to get there. Look at last year as an example. So getting the #1 seed matters here. That way come Syracuse and the first weekend in November, we can hopefully do to the Orange what they did to us last year at our place. But for now, take it one game at a time. Beat Louisville at Sherman. Then worry about the next game.

Football: The Huskies are back at home on Saturday against Western Michigan. Since there will be significant development between now and then most likely, I'll write something on this Saturday.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies will be on national TV this Friday night as they head to South Bend to face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. This was supposed to be a good game and a rematch of the Huskies' upset last year in the Big East Tournament but both teams have disappointed. The Irish have dropped out of the poll, and the Huskies are barely .500. ESPN can't do anything now though, so that game will air on ESPNU at 7:30 PM. Also, audio is available on WHUS. The Huskies will continue play on Sunday, facing DePaul at 2:00 PM in Chicago.

Women's Ice Hockey: The Huskies host Rensaleer (or RPI, depending on where you look. Same school, different name) for a two-game series beginning Friday night at 7:00 at Frietas Ice Forum. They'll conclude the series Saturday at 3:00 PM.

Men's Ice Hockey: The Men's Ice Hockey team will host Ryerson (another Canadian school) in an exibition contest Saturday at 8:00 PM. The regular season gets underway next Saturday with a trip to Bowling Green.

Women's Volleyball: The Huskies are looking to bounce back from a bad road trip as come home for two more Big East contests. On Saturday at 2:00 PM, Marquette rolls into Gampel Pavilion, and on Sunday at the same time, the Syracuse Orange will do the same. For those of you hoops fans who just can't wait until February 25 to see the Orange come into Gampel, this is your chance. Those who can, who said you could only pick one? Admission to this one is free to everybody. And would any true Husky fan would miss a chance to see a UConn-Syracuse game at Gampel for free? I think not.

UConn Sports Roundup, September 23, 2011

Husky news and notes from today

Women's Soccer: The Huskies continue Big East play with a pair of games this weekend. First, they face the Louisville Cardinals tonight at 7:00 PM. Video will be available on Huskies All-Access, and WHUS will be doing the audio. Next, the Huskies will host the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday at 1:00 PM. That game will also be on All-Access. The Cardinals are 1-0-1 in the Big East and 3-4-2 overall, tying them for second in the National Division. Cincy is 1-1-0 and 5-3-2 overall. The Huskies are also 1-1-0 in Big East play, plus 4-4-0 overall. They are one game behind West Virginia and Marquette in the American Division. On next Friday night (the 30th) the Huskies will head to South Bend to face Notre Dame in a matchup televised by ESPNU. That will be big.

Women's Volleyball: The Huskies are in Cincinnati tonight at 7:30 PM before traveling to Louisville Sunday at 2:00 PM. This is the first two Big East games of the season. The Cincinnati game will be available on the Bearcats' website for viewing. Ditto for the Louisville game and the Cards' site.

Men's Soccer: The Huskies will face their archrival #12 ranked St. John's Red Storm on Saturday night in front of a predicted sell-out. Only 500 tickets remain so buy soon. And wear white since it's a White Out. For those unable to attend, tune into WHUS or Huskies All-Access. Also, it is Family Weekend. Any families reading this who think they might want to attend the game, buy your tickets NOW. Otherwise, you won't get them. I think if UConn wanted to encourage families to come over Family Weekend, they should let them know it's going to be a sell-out (since usually you can just get tickets there). The Family Weekend website doesn't even list ticket prices. This could be intentionally marketing towards fans as opposed to families. But if it's not, and they want families to go, they're doing a bad job. Any way, if you don't know if you want to go and are unwilling to buy seats in advance, there are two women's games this weekend, plus several other contests around campus (volleyball, ice hockey). Those are valuable options too. Consider them. They can be fun. They won't be as crowded as Morrone Stadium on Saturday night, but if you want to watch a UConn game, go for it. They're fun too. If you want to know why, read the rest of my blog. Update: As I wrote this, I was updated that the St. John's game is now SOLD OUT. Let's hope all the season ticket holders actually show up, or if they can't, give/sell their tickets to a friend. To any season ticket holder who can't go for whatever reason, please let someone else have your tickets. Give them to a friend, or sell them. But let Morrone Stadium be packed.

Women's Ice Hockey: The women's ice hockey team plays their first and only exhibition contest of the season against McGill tonight at 7 PM.  McGill is a Canadain University, and they will frequently compete against American schools in exhibition games. McGill may be the Harvard of Canada, but as Lisa Simpson says, "Anything that's the something of the something isn't really anything at all". I love that quote, by the way. But as for the game, it's just an exhibition. The real fun starts next weekend, with games on Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st against RPI. You can't help but love RPI's nickname. They're the Engineers. Even Cal Tech came up with a vaguely fierce nickname. Beavers may not be fiercely competitive creatures, but at least they're not nerds. Then again, from what some of my friends in the School of Engineering tell me, it can get quite competitive there. Perhaps the RPI Engineering Majors? Still, I think the New College of Florida has the most unusual athletic nickname out there - the Empty Set. When the college was created, they put a pair of empty brackets  in the charter to choose a nickname at a little time. But eventually, they dropped all varsity  athletic teams. Now, the Empty Set has become a symbol of New College, and is also used by several club teams. In fact, their career services blog is called "Filling the Empty Set", perhaps as a reference to to getting a job as well.

Football: The Huskies travel to Buffalo, tomorrow at 6 PM. Hopefully the Huskies can get on the right path with a win over the lowly Bulls. But hopefully they should have beaten Vandy and Iowa State and that didn't happen. So I'm not counting on it. If we had a remotely competent QB, we could be amazing. We don't. At the same time, I'm not counting this season out yet. Last year, we started 1-2 including a loss at Temple. Everyone said we were done. Then, we started 3-4 after losses to Rutgers and Louisville. Everyone said we were done. Then came a Dave Teggart kick against West Virginia in OT and everything changed. Anything could happen.

Field Hockey: The #4 Huskies will look to bounce back from their first loss of the season as they travel to Rhode Island to face Providence. The Huskies are 1-0 in the Big East and 6-1 overall. The Friars are 3-6 overall and this will be their Big East opener. The Huskies will go on to host UMass on Wednesday at 7:00 PM and Louisville on Saturday the 1st of October at noon.

Note: You may have noticed this post contains more rambling and analysis about various subjects rather than just straight UConn facts. I kind of prefer this format, so I think I'll stick with it. It's always what I intended this blog to be, it just rarely worked out that way. For those who liked the abbreviated version, I will be posting a shorter (more cut-an-dry) version of these on the UConn fan message board The Boneyard. How much detail I go in there is subject to feeback (unlike the format of these posts which I will do as I like to do). You can view today's here. I won't always link, but I may sometimes. I'd recommend joining the site in general.

UConn Sports Roundup, Sepetmber 17th (UPDATE 2 PM)

Men's Soccer: The Huskies defeated the Boston University Terriers 1-0. The game against the unranked home team was tightly contested throughout before Allando Matheson scored his first career goal to put the Huskies up for good. Over the last few year, Boston University has given us a lot of trouble so this is a good win. Next up, we travel to Boston College to face the Eagles at 7:30 PM on Tuesday night. That game is available on WHUS org streaming videos on bceagles.com. Read the officicial press release on the game here.

Football: The Huskies suffered a disappointing loss  24-20 to the visiting Iowa State Cyclones to fall to 1-2 on the season. We had a lot of chances but couldn't capitalized, pretty much the same story as the Vanderbilt game. If we keep playing like this it could be a long year. We have a week non-conference schedule and have Buffalo and Western Michigan remaining. If we can win both of those games we only need to go 3-4 in Big East play to make a bowl game. That's certainly doable. But we have to improve our ability to capitalize on our opportunities.

Women's Volleyball: The Huskies opened the Hokie Classic with a 3-0 sweep of Chatanooga to improve to 7-4 on the season. Next up they will take on Virginia today at 1:00 PM and host Virginia Tech at 7:00 PM. Then, the Huskies will open up Big East play with a road trip to Cincinnati and Louisville.

Field Hockey: The #4 Huskies open up Big East play tonight at noon against unranked Villanova then will host Boston College on Sunday at 2:00 PM. Both games can be seen live on Huskies All-Access. The Huskies can move up in the rankings with a win thanks to a loss by #1 UNC to #2 Old Dominion. So this is a big weekend.


Update: Field Hockey defeated Villanova 6-0 to win their conference opener. Ali Blankmeyer and Chloe Hunnable led the way with two goals each and Marine Elene Bolles and Justine Angelini added a goal each for the major victory. The game vs. the #8 BC Eagles will be huge tomorrow, and if we win that we may very well be ranked #3 in the nation. On next Saturday (September 24th) we will take on Providence on the road looking to stay perfect, then on September 28th we host UMass, who received votes in the last coach's poll. We then have a somewhat big home game vs. RV Louisville on October 1. The Cardinals were expect to contend for the Big East championship, but it looks like at this point that if someone's going to challenge the ACC from the Big East, it's going to be UConn or Syracuse. The Huskies and Orange face off Sunday, October 23 in Storrs. But the Big East Tournament is in Syracuse the first weekend in November and who wins that could very well host a regional in the NCAA Tournament which carries with it additional home field advantage. That's pretty far down the road though, and they came into our place and beat us last year so it wouldn't be surprising for us to do the same to them.

Husky Sports Roundup, September 16th, 2011

Football: Big game today as the 1-1 Huskies host the Iowa State Cyclones to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Vanderbilt that frankly, we should have won. Kick off is at 8:00 PM on ESPN2 live from Rentschler Field. For those going to the game, arrive early for a special 9/11 tribute.

Women's soccer: The Huskies improved to 4-3-0 by winning their Big East opener 1-0 over Syracuse. Jessica Dulski had her third shutout on the season, an impressive total for the senior. 11:49 in the game, Danielle Schullman made it 1-0, to put the Huskies up for good. Wind and were definitely a factor for both teams with limited opportunities. Next up the Huskies travel to Queens to face St. John's at 1:00 PM on Sunday. That game will be streamed by St. John's at here.

Men's Soccer: Two New England matchups for the #2 Huskies who go on the road this week. First, today at 7:00 PM they travel to Boston University to face the Terriers. Streaming is available on BU's website. Next, the Huskies will travel to face #11 Boston College at 7:30 PM on Tuesday on the road. That will be a major road test for the Huskies. It will also be the annual Goal Patrol road trip game.

Women's Volleyball: The Huskies will get underway in Blacksburg, Va in the Hokie Invitation as they take on Chattanooga (today, 4:00 PM), Virginia (Sat. 1:00 PM), and Virginia Tech (Sat., 7:00 PM). The Huskies are 6-4 this year. After finishing up the pre-season tournament run around, the Huskies will travel to Cincinnati and Louisville on September 23rd and 25th to get Big East season unerway.

Field Hockey: The 5-0 and #4 Huskies open Big East play on Saturday afternoon vs. Villanova at noon. That game will be on Huskies All Access. On Sunday afternoon at 2 PM the Huskies will host the #8 Boston College Eagles. Another critical matchup among ranked teams, and we could move up in the rankings since #1 UNC plays #2 Old Dominion today and one of those teams has to lose.

That's all for now. Go Huskies!

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-soccer/recaps/091511aab.html

Husky Sports Round-Up, September 14th

Note: This is my first since undergoing brain surgery so forgive any typos

Field Hockey: The Field Hockey team defeated Drexel 2-0 on Sunday afternoon. The Huskies are still ranked #4   in the country, behind UNC, Old Dominion, and Maryland. Next up we open Big East play traveling to Villanova o Saturday the 17th and will face Boston College the nxt day.

Men's  Soccer: Thew newly ranked #2 Huskies travel to the Boston University Terriers on Friday afternoon and the Boston College Eagles on Tuesady evening, both games at 7:00 PM on WHUS. The Eagles are a Top 25.

Women's Soccer: Next up, we open Big East play by hosting Syracuse tomorrow at 7PM on WHUS.

http://nfhca.org/

UConn Sports Roundup, September 11th, 2011

Husky Sports Roundup for today, September 11th, 2011

Football: UConn lost disappointingly to Vanderbilt, 24-21. The Huskies are now 1-1 on the season. We had a defensive touchdown and a special teams touchdown, plus two field goals and a 2-point conversion. However, we have not had an offensive touchdown against an FBS team since we played Cincinnati on November 27th, 2010 and Jordan Todman ran it in with 3:49 left. That's over 12 quarters without one. They say defense and special teams wins games, but you have to have at least a mediocre offense. We don't. Johnny McEntee threw three interceptions, and they cost us.

Women's Volleyball: UConn split their two games in New Hampshire yesterday. They lost to Indiana State in straight sets, but then beat the host Wildcats 25-21, 25-20, 25-11. Holly Strauss-O'Brien got her 100th win. The Huskies are 6-4 on the season And will be in Blacksburgh, Va next weekend for the Hokie Classic, where they will face Chatanooga, Virginia, and host Virginia Tech.

Field Hockey: The #4 Huskies defeated the Albany Great Danes 1-0 thanks to a goal by Marie Elena Bolles. The Huskies are 4-0 on the season, and will host Drexel today at 2:00 PM.

Men's Soccer: The #3 ranked men will face SMU in the second game of the Hurricane Classic at Tulsa today at 12:00 PM. The game will be on WHUS.org and WHUS FM 91.7.

Women's Soccer: Fresh off an upset win against Boston University, the Huskies will travel to Cambridge to face the Harvard Crimson today at 1:00.

Miscellaneous Personal News: I will be having surgery tomorrow. I will therefore not be blog posting for a little while.

UConn Sports Roundup, September 10, 2011

Miscellaneous Blog/Personal News: My surgery is Monday. If you want to know more, email me. In any case, this will render me unable to post on the blog for about a week, maybe a little less. If you want updates on your favorite teams, check out the Athletic Website.

Football: The big travel game for the Huskies is today at 7:30 PM at Vanderbilt. That game will air locally on SNY and ESPN3.com (though the latter will likely be showing the Comcast Sports South Broadcast). Also, the SNY broadcast is not Big East Regional Television so I have no idea if it's the same production crew. In any case, the Huskies QB situation is still not settled, though I think McCummings and McEntee will get most of the playing time. And now we may see issues at running back too after Lyle McCombs had a great week last week while presumed starter DJ Shoemate was hurt. There are a lot of questions to be answered when the Huskies take the field tonight. I'm looking forward to it.

Men's Soccer: The #3 team in the country defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane as part of the Hurricane Classic. The final score was 1-0. Mamadou Doudou Diouf got a goal in the 25th minute. Next up, the Huskies will take on SMU at 12:30 PM Sunday, also in Tulsa. That game is on WHUS.org and WHUS 91.7 FM.

Field Hockey: The #4 ranked Huskies host Albany today at noon and Drexel tomorrow at 2 PM. Next weekend, the Huskies open Big East play on Saturday when they host Villanova. They will then host Boston College on Sunday the 18th.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies defeated #20/23 Boston University, 3-0. It snapped BU's 5-game win streak. The Huskies are now 3-2-0, after their win before 1,404 fans. It was scoreless at halftime, but Danielle Schullman scored in the 53rd minute, and Julie Hubbard and Jessica Prendergast added goals later on to seal the deal. Next up, the Huskies will travel to Harvard on Sunday at 1 PM to face the Crimson.

Women's Volleyball: The Huskies defeated Fairfield three sets to one in the opener of the UNH Tournament. The Huskies will face Indiana State at 10 AM today and the host New Hampshire Wildcats at 7 PM to wrap up the tournament. The Huskies are 5-3 on the season and have already won one tournament at home.

Basketball: UConn agreed yesterday to play in the second edition of the Carrier Classic in 2012. UConn will play a game atop a military aircraft carrier in San Diego Bay, on November 9, 2012. Their opponent is TBD but may be Kansas, Texas, Florida, Arizona, or Illinois. This is very exciting for the Huskies to be doing something like this.

UConn Sports Update, September 8, 2011

First of all, I'd like to wish a happy Birthday to my wonderful sister, Leanne. Second of all, I'll be having the surgery for my medical issues on Monday, so I won't be posting for a while after Sunday. I could be gone a week, maybe longer. I really don't know yet. (If you want more info on my medical issues, email me. I don't want to post it publicly.)

And now for the roundup.

Women's Volleyball: UConn won the first set vs. Sacred Heart on Tuesday evening, but lost the next three to lose the match. You can read the UConn release here. Jordan Kirk had a season high 17 kills. The final line score was 21-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-19. The Huskies fall to 4-3 and will be in Durham, NH for games against Fairfield, Indiana State, and New Hampshire. Fairfield will be tomorrow at 4:30 PM, ISU Saturday at 10 AM, and UNH Saturday at 7 PM.

Field Hockey: In a surprise, UConn is still ranked #4 in the latest poll, behind UNC, Old Dominion, and Maryland. The Monarchs play tough games this weekend in Columbus against #5 Syracuse and Ohio State, so we could move up if they fall. ODU and UNC face off against eachother September 16th, so one of them will lose.

Men's Soccer: UConn is ranked #3 in the latest coaches poll, behind UNC and Maryland. Is this ACC bias, or a deserved snub? We will see.

Football: Football team travels to Vanderbilt this weekend at 7:30 PM on SNY. This will NOT be a Big East Regional Network game, and I don't know if SNY is producing it themselves, simulcasting Comcast Sports South's broadcast of it from Vandy's end, or  something else entirely. The only home game which is scheduled as of now to be on SNY Only and not BETV is October 1 vs. Western Michigan. So, that would not be a simulcast of the home team. As for the game itself, the Huskies are 1.5 point favorites. This will be a key game for the season as it will show if they can win the tough contests. This is the big travel game for Husky fans and the band, and it could turn out to be like the Michigan game last year  - an  overhyped loss. Let's hope not.

UConn Sports Roundup, September 3, 2011 (UPDATED 9/4/11, 8:54 AM)

Football: In the premier UConn game of the day, the UConn football team defeated the Fordham Rams, 35-3. You can also read the official release here. As for the game, this was a blowout, and not unexpected. Michael Nebrich, Scotty McCummings, and Johnny McEntee all saw playing time. On a side note, does anyone else think Johnny McEntee sounds like he should be someone in a comic book? But I digress. Another surprise was Lyle McCombs starting at running back over DJ Shoemate. No word yet on whether that will be permanent, but given his good showing (141 yards and 4 TD's) I would expect Coach Pasqualoni to start him at Vandy next week. It's a good start to the season, but we'll have to beat better teams to make a difference.

Women's Volleyball: In their second game of the Toyota UConn Classic, the Huskies swept Holy Cross 3-0. Next up is Binghamton tonight at 7:30 to wrap up the tournament. Read more about the win over the Crusaders here. The Huskies are 3-2 on the season. Update 9/4/11 8:54 AM: The Huskies swept the Bearcats last night 3-0. Senior Jordan Kirk was named the tournament MVP, and was joined on the All-Tournament team by fellow Huskies Mattison Quayle and Kelsey Manning. The Huskies are now 4-2 on the season. Next up, the Huskies host Sacred Heart on September 6th at 7:30 PM. You can watch that game on Huskies All-Access.

Women's Soccer: The Huskies got a big win against #15/17 Wake Forest last night in Winston-Salem. Thanks to a goal by Danielle Schulman, and a winner by Devin Prendergast at 83:46, the Huskies beat the previously-undefeated Demon Deacons 2-1 and are now 2-1-0. Next up is Virginia Tech on Sunday, also in Winston-Salem. That game is at 11:30 AM and will be on WHUS 91.7 FM/WHUS.org.

Men's Soccer: As previously mentioned, the Huskies play a huge game vs. California tomorrow at 4:30 PM. The Golden Bears are #7 in the country. That game will be on WHUS.org/WHUS 91.7 FM and All-Access.

Field Hockey:  Another major game for the Huskies tomorrow, as they travel to Penn State to face the #8 Nittany Lions. With a win, the Huskies would likely move up to #2 nationally thanks to losses by #1 Maryland and #3 Virginia. #2 UNC beat #5 Syracuse, so the Huskies will likely be #2 to the Tar Heels when the rankings come out Monday if they pull off the win.

Softball: The 2012 softball schedule is up on the website. Find it here. I will post in more detail about it when a press release is published.

Baseball: We can now begin to fill in bits and pieces of the 2012 schedule. St. John's released their Big East schedule. The Huskies will travel to Kaiser Stadium in Queens April 13-15. That should be a big series, as always. Also, Sacred Heart's website shows them hosting the Huskies on March 13 at a time to be determined. Let's see if we can fill in more pieces before UConn releases their full schedule. That has typically been anywhere from mid-October to mid-December, so let's wait and see.

Miscellaneous: UConn started a new Husky blog today, called "UConn Believe It". You can find it at UConnHuskies.com/blog.  They also invite you to comment on today's football game here. I hope that the blog will give recognition to the Husky sports besides basketball and football. Both posts were about today's football game, but let's hope they post about other sports. If so, I give them a lot of credit. If not, that's what I do. Keep reading here.

Husky Sports Roundup September 1, 2011

Today's roundup

Football: The football game vs. Fordham originally scheduled for tonight will now be Saturday at noon. Saturday is my dad's birthday so I will probably be out with him at that time. I may catch some of it on the radio, I'm really not sure. Either way, we'll see there. Should be a blowout anyway.

Men's soccer: UConn defeated Michigan State tonight 2-1. Mamadou Douodou Diouf scored his first goal of the season and Max Wasserman added the game winner on a free kick. Next up is a huge game vs. California Sunday at 7:30 4:30 PM at Morrone Stadium. The game was originally scheduled for 7:30 but has been changed because of power outages. No word yet on whether it will air on WHUS and/or All-Access.

Women's Soccer: The women's soccer team heads on the road for the first time this year. Tomorrow, they will face Wake Forest in Winston-Salem at 6:00 PM and on Sunday, they will face Virginia Tech in Winston-Salem at 11:30 AM. The former will be available on Wake Forest's website, and both will be on WHUS 91.7 FM and WHUS.org (although the audio on the Demon Deacon's site will be theirs). UConn is 1-1 so far this season.

Women's Volleyball: Toyota UConn Classic starts tomorrow night. Binghamton vs. Howard at 5:00, then the Huskies take on Holy Cross at 7:30. On Saturday, each team plays two games. The Bearcats face the Crusaders at 10:00 AM, followed by the Huskies taking on Howard at 12:30. Then at 5:00, it's Howard-Holy Cross, followed by UConn-Binghamton at 7:30 to close it out.

Men's and Women's Basketball: Both teams released their full schedules yesterday. The women's basketball game on Martin Luther King Day will be at Gampel, so I can attend that one when I (finally) return to campus. Also my first week back, the men host Cincinnati at 7:00 at Gampel. On a related note, if any UConn seniors are graduating in December and want to split a set of season tickets, with you getting games from Fall semester and me getting the ones from Spring semester, email me at gregorykoch2@yahoo.com and we can work something out.

UConn Football Postponed from Thursday

The UConn-Fordham football game scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 PM has been postponed. The National Guard is using Rentschler Field for emergency supplies. The Huskies hope to reschedule the game to Saturday, but nothing is official yet. Saturday is my dad's birthday, so depending on what time the game is, I may or may not catch all of it. But we'll see. Stay tuned for more info.

Husky Sports Roundup, August 29th, 2011

Below find my first Husky sports roundup, with news from today and previous days. I will see how often I post these. As news warrants, I guess.

Football: The season opens Thursday at the Rent vs. Fordham. The game will air on ESPN3.com but no TV broadcast. I may wind up live-blogging this game from my bedroom. Depends on how  whether my flooded downstairs is taken care of by then. (Thank you, Hurricane Irene). Stay tuned. Coach Paul Pasqualoni said at the press conference today that there will be three quarterbacks going in the game. Presumably this is Michael Nebrich, Johnny McEntee, and Scotty McCummings. I doubt he's referring to Driscoll, and Box is leaving the program. We've lost a lot of our offense and are ranked 6th in the Big East preseason poll. This will probably be a letdown after our BCS appearance. However, things could change. Our non-conference schedule is relatively weak, and if we go 4-1, we only need 2 conference wins to make a bowl. And most of our defense is returning, so I think we could go 7-5 or 8-4 this year. Or we could go 2-10. We'll see.

Men's soccer: Men's soccer beat St. Francis 2-0 on Saturday afternoon thanks to an own goal and a score from Carlos Alvarez. Next up is Michigan State Thursday at 7:30 PM. . This is a very good squad which could contend for the national title. Goalkeeper Josh Ford graduated, but we return Alvarez, as well as Mamadou Doudou Diouf and several other young players. And true freshman Andre Blake is great in goal. He may not be as good as Ford yet, but he will be better than Josh before he's done here.

Women's soccer: Women's soccer lost the season opener on August 19th to the other Huskies, from Northeastern. Final score 2-1 in spite of jumping out 1-0. But the Huskies came storming back against Colgate on the 25th, winning 3-0. A game against Central Connecticut State on Sunday was canceled because of rain. No makeup date has been announced. We snuck into the NCAA tournament last year after a good showing in the Big East Tournament and are looking to improve. Next up we travel to Winston-Salem for a weekend series. We will take on Wake Forest Friday night at 7:30 before playing Virginia Tech at 11:30 AM Sunday.

Women's volleyball: Women's volleyball was at the TCU Invitational in Fort Worth. We beat Grambling in the opener but lost two in a row to Texas Tech an the host Horned Frogs. Next up we are at home over Labor Day Weekend for the Toyota UConn classic, a three game, two-day round robin tournament featuring us, Holy Cross, Howard, and Binghamton. We are a long-shot to make the tournament this year.

Field Hockey: In the first game of the Husky Invitational Friday afternoon, the #4 nationally ranked team hammered Hofstra, 7-1. After the Pride took on Stanford on Saturday, we were supposed to face the Cardinal on Sunday. Due to Hurricane Irene, however, it was postponed until today. We won 4-2, thanks to goals by Anne Jeute, Justine Angelini, Ali Blankmeyer, and Chloe Hunnable. Next up, we face #8 Penn State on the road at noon Sunday. The Nittany Lions are fresh off a victory at #3 Virginia, and are looking for another huge victory. We would likely move up to #3 in the first regular season poll (to be released September 5th) if we win that one. We may even move up to #2 since #2 UNC has a tough game at home against #5 Syracuse, and if the Orange win, it may help us. Then again, it may help them leapfrog us. We'll see.

Stay tuned. Go Huskies!

Top 10 Games I Attended in 2010-11 #1: Football vs. West Virginia, October 29th, 2010

Sorry for the delay in posting this. I've been having some personal issues. But here it is, right now. By the way, for those of you wondering why the Big East and NCAA Tournaments aren't on here, the answer is simple - I wasn't at those games. Also, look at the bottom for an in-depth analysis of this list.

What: Football vs. West Virginia (original post)

When: October 29, 2010

Where: Rentschler Field

Result: Win 16-13, OT

What a game! This completely turned our season around. We came back from being down 10-0 just before halftime (at which point Teggart made a field goal) to win  16-13 in overtime. It wasn't as much due to our good play as because West Virginia kept fumbling, but I'll take it. It was the first time we beat them, ever. And after that, it launched a five game win streak that took us to our first BCS game.

This was probably the most exciting football game I've ever watched. It didn't seem that way for most of the first half though, when we couldn't score. Finally, Dave Teggart made that field goal just before the half to make it 10-3. It JUST made it inside the crossbar. I've read The Garden of Forking Paths and I wonder how we would have been different if that kick had gone wide. We wouldn't have the momentum heading into the second half, and in all likelihood, we wouldn't win the game. We wouldn't take momentum into the Pitt game and win, and could very well go 3-9. Maryland wouldn't hire Randy Edsall, but of course, he could get fired. And Pasqualoni might not have taken the job. Who knows? And if years down the road, we are an elite football program, this could have been the crucial moment in that. We will just have to see.

I'll probably post sporadically until the beginning of next season, which is just over a month away. Until then, Go Huskies!

Analysis:

Let's review the Top 10 first:

10. Men's Soccer vs. Boston University, August 28 (first game I attended)

9. Baseball vs. Holy Cross, March 22 (first baseball game, 16-inning contest)

8. Field Hockey Big East Semifinal vs. Louisville, November 6

7. Men's Soccer Big East First Round vs. DePaul, November 5

6. Men's Basketball vs. Stony Brook, November 12 (first regular-season game I attended)

5. Men's Ice Hockey vs. Sacred Heart @ Rentschler Field, February 13 (outdoor game as part of Whalers Hockey Fest)

4. Baseball Doubleheader vs. St. John's, April 2 (possible turning point of our season)

3. Men's Basketball vs. Villanova, January 17 (first game back from winter break, Kemba Walker hits game winning shot with 1 second left)

2. Women's Basketball vs. Baylor, November 16

1. Football vs. West Virginia, October 29 (see above)

 

Note that two of these were the first game I attended in a sport (including one which was the first game I attended in any sport) and a third was the first regular season game I attended in that sport (I had attended an exhibition game vs. American International). A fourth was the first game I attended after Winter Break, and it had been over a month since I'd attended one. Three more could be classified as "special" games - two Big East Tournament games and Whalers Hockey Fest. Two more are turning point games - West Virginia football and St. John's baseball. And the women's hoops game vs. Baylor was the first major contest I'd attended in women's basketball, after we clobbered Franklin Pierce and Holy Cross.

Well, that's all for now. Go Huskies!

Letter to the Editor in Hartford Courant

So today, a Letter to the Editor I submitted to the Hartford Courant was published. I wrote in to comment on the hysteria regarding Robert Burton and the $3 million donation to UConn football. The online version is available here.

Or just look below.

The front-page article "Does Big Donation Buy Big Access?" [Jan. 30] was well written. However, it misses a few important points.

College athletic departments are not corporations, and the donors are not shareholders. They are just donors. That does not entitle them to any special rights or privileges, any more than someone who donated a large sum of money to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's campaign would now have influence in state government.

It is ridiculous the special status that college athletics are given in this country. If Mr. Burton wants to move his donation from the football team to the school of business, that is certainly his choice. But it is unfair and childish for him to go on a raging rant about how he deserves to be consulted about who to hire and how, and because he wasn't, it is a great insult. He just needs to grow up and face the fact that he isn't the center of everything.

Football - October 29th vs. West Virginia

What: Football vs. West Virginia

When: October 29th, 2010, 8:00 PM

Result: Win 16-13, OT

Summary: First home football game in almost a month. Going in, we hadn't scored since a Dave Teggart field goal as time ran out in the first half against Rutgers, 3 weeks prior. And we didn't wind up scoring here until Teggart booted one through with 1 second left in the first half. So almost 8 quarters without a score. Yet remarkably, despite giving up several long drives, we only went into halftime down 10-3. Todman than got a touchdown to cap a long drive in the third quarter, and we traded field goals to ultimately force OT. West Virginia drove down to the 1 on the first posession, but fumbled and we recovered, so we just needed a field goal to win. Teggart booted a chip shot from 31, and that was that. Storm the field time. No, I did not participate, because I am not particularly fond of crazy mobs, but it looked fun, that is if you like crazy mobs. And it was the first win over WVU in program history. On a side note, a lot of interesting costumed characters including 2 gorillas and a banana. (Banana guy stole my costume idea - I was planning to wear the exact same costume to the Whitney Dance Thursday until it was cancelled.)

Ratings:

Atmosphere:

Fan Friendliness: Not always the most clean, but usually nothing bad. The people next to me making out for the entire first half (literally) before leaving because the concession stands stopped serving alcohol wasn't nice, but aside from that not too many issues, except for a few profanities. Rating: 7/10

Fan Enthusiasm: Loud,  rocking, and amazing. Fans (except for the ones who just came to get drunk and left after Last Call) stayed for the whole game and went crazy when we won. Rating: 15/15

Event Atmosphere: Some of us may remember watching the "Pandemonium in Piscataway" game in which Rutgers got the biggest win in school history (although some could argue winning the first game ever in the history of college football was bigger) at which point the RU radio uttered that famous line. Well we need something like that for this game. I'll be taking suggestions. Post them in the comments or email me at gregory.koch@uconn.edu. I'll post some of the better ones. And keep in mind, Piscataway is where the football stadium was, and RU is actually in New Brunswick, so preferably it should involve "East Hartford" (or "Rentschler or something like that") over "Storrs" though I will accept anything on those lines (even "Connecticut"). Rating: 15/15

Overall Atmosphere: 37/40

On-field:

Quality of Play: Best game at Rentschler all season. Both teams really played well, and in the end UConn emerged victorious. Rating: 19/20

Excitement: What a thriller. Overtime and a game-winning field goal. Amazing. Rating: 10/10

Quality of UConn Play: Also amazing. Played very well. Struggled a bit in the first half, so this won't get a perfect score, but we did very well. Rating: 9/10

Result: Win 10/10

On-field total: 48/50

Other:
Clarity of Fan Communication: A couple times when you couldn't hear the refs over the crowd, but other than that very good. Rating: 4.5/5

Magnitude of Event: Could be the biggest win in program history. We were struggling, and if we lost we'd have been 3-5 and lost 3 straight heading into the Pitt game. In all likelihood, we wouldn't even make a bowl. Now we're back to .500, and beat a team we were 0-8 against, and given the terrible state of the Big East, we have an outside chance of winning the conference if we win out (and since we'd have wins against WVU and Pitt, that would help us with the tiebreakers.) So a huge win for us. Rating: 13/15

Size of Crowd: Sellout, stayed for whole game. Rating: 15/15

Other total: 32.5/35

Overall total: 117.5/125


 

Regarding the Quarterback Situation

So you've probably heard by now that Quarterback Cody Endres is suspended for the rest of the academic year, which according to several sources is due to a third failed drug test. I have heard many people (students and fans) complain that our program is going downhill and that Edsall has lost control of the team. In fact, it is almost the exact opposite. When you look at schools like the University of Florida, which has had about 30 felonies committed by football players over the last 5 years. Our program has been pretty clean except for Cody and Erik Kuraczea. (And we don't even know what the deal is with Erik - he was suspended with Cody earlier, but we don't even know if that was for the same reason, and if so, whether they were connected or just two failed drug tests, and now he's withdrawn and we don't know if that's because he failed again and withdrew before he got caught or what.) But anyway, Edsall's running a clean ship for the most part. We're not on probation, nobody's been convicted of a felony, nothing like that. And more importantly, when a player does do something wrong, they are disciplined appropriately. If John Brantley had a positive drug test, you think Urban Meyer would suspend him for 8 months? Of course not. And they have had players caught drunk driving, underage drinking (often together), marijuana, etc. And they've either gotten off the hook or been suspended for a game or two. And every team has one or two players who break rules. At least we're doing something about it. And the fact is, some schools (like the Gators) may have more players who fail drug tests then we know about, because the school lets it fly if the player is a star of the team. So contrary to what people think, we are not going downhill, and kudos to Coach Edsall for actually disciplining players.