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Huskies Fall to Boston College in BIG EAST Final
Boxscore
PISCATAWAY, NJ (November 17) – The University of Connecticut
men’s soccer team dropped a 3-1 decision to Boston College in the championship
game of the 2002 BIG EAST Tournament. UConn dropped to 15-5 on the season, while
the Eagles won its third conference title improving to 16-4 overall.
Bobby Thompson put the Eagles on the board at the 20:19 mark
of the first half. Adam Pfeifer crossed a ball to the near side of the field,
deflecting off UConn defender Marcus Svensson (Kivek, Sweden). Thompson secured
the deflection and sailed to the opposite side of the net over the reaching
hands of netminder Adam Schuerman (Brookfield, WI). Boston College took the
two-goal lead with 11:35 left in the half. Pfieffer again made a complete cross
to the opposite side post. Oktay Kilic and Schuerman both went up to reach the
ball first. Schuerman punched the ball back into play, while Kilic managed to
get a piece of his head on it as it bounced over the line and into the net.
Connecticut had more than its chances in the half, out shooting the Eagles,
15-4. In the 15 th-minute,
Anthony Curtis (Kingston, Jamaica) placed a ball into the left side of the box,
Boston College keeper Kyle Singer punched the ball away before it hit the foot
of Cesar Cuellar (Santa Cruz, Bolivia).
UConn closed the scoring gap within the first 10-minutes of
play in the second half. Leandro de Oliveira (Sao Paulo, Bolivia) took the shot
from the far side of the box hitting the opposite post and bouncing back out.
Although it looked like it hit off the chest of Cuellar, it actually deflected
into the net off the foot of Guy Melamed. Boston College notched its third goal
at the 66:31 of the game. Melamed redeemed himself scoring on a low shot just
inside of the left post as Schuerman made the dive seconds late. Connecticut
came within one once again with 5:53 left on the clock. Cuellar crossed the ball
and the banked in for the score. UConn had the chance to tie the score with
under five-minutes left in regulation when Lindon Pecorelli (LaCrescenta, CA)
was taken down just outside the top of the box. Damani Ralph (Kingston, Jamaica)
nailed the ball to the outside left of the net. With under a minute left, UConn
had two successive corner kicks but couldn’t come up with the goal.
Schuerman only had one stop in the loss, while Singer made
eight saves. Connecticut out shot Boston College, 26-7, with Ralph out shooting
the Eagles with 10 solo shots. Thomas was named the 2002 championship’s Most
Outstanding Performer for the second time in three years. He won the honor as a
sophomore in 2000 when BC won its second title also held at Yurcak Field at
Rutgers.
Connecticut will await is fate in the 2002 NCAA Tournament
when the pairing are announced on Monday, November 18 at 4:30 pm. |
