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STORRS, Conn. (October 10, 2007) - O'Brian White (Scarborough, Ontario) tallied his second consecutive hat trick as the No. 1 University of Connecticut men's soccer team shutout Providence, 3-0, Wednesday night at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. With the Huskies' fifth straight win, they improve to 12-1-0 on the season and 6-1-0 in the BIG EAST, while the Friars fall to 5-5-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the conference.

With White's three-goal performance, he becomes the first UConn player in program history to tally back-to-back hat tricks and only the second to earn more than one in his career, let alone in a single season. He currently leads the team, conference and nation in scoring with 32 points off 14 goals and four assists.

In between the pipes, Josh Ford (Liverpool, N.Y.) earned his ninth shutout of the year, grabbing six saves on the night, including five in the second period.

White's first and second goals of the game came within the opening 12 minutes of action. Akeem Priestley (Kingston, Jamaica) assisted on the first when he played the ball out to White in the right side of the penalty area for him to launch a hard grounder into the lower left 90 for the lead midway through the 10th minute of play.

He stretched it to two just about two minutes later with a little help from Ryan Cordeiro (Highland Mills, N.Y.), who tallied his fifth assist of the season. Cordeiro sent a centering pass into the box from the left side of the pitch and White stuffed it into the back of the next from close range.

Several other Huskies tried to get on board in the second half, but it was White who once again came through, putting up the final goal of the night early in the 86th minute of action. The NCAA leader in assists, Mike Pezza (Jackson, N.J.) earned his 13th of the year by passing the ball forward to White as he went streaming through the top of the penalty area. White then beat the goalkeeper, Timothy Murray, on the left side and shot the ball into the open goal to finish off his impressive performance.

Tonight's win propelled the Huskies into first place in the BIG EAST Blue Division, bypassing their next opponent, Notre Dame.

UConn returns to action Saturday against the third-ranked Fighting Irish at noon in South Bend, Ind. They are 8-2-2 on the season and 5-0-1 in the BIG EAST after falling, 1-0, to Michigan State in a non-conference match Wednesday night.

Goals by period     1   2   Tot
Providence            0   0 -  0
Connecticut          2   1 -  3

SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 9:34 UCONN WHITE, O'Brian (12) (PRIESTLEY, Akeem)
2. 11:29 UCONN WHITE, O'Brian (13) (CORDEIRO, Ryan)
3. 85:13 UCONN WHITE, O'Brian (14) (PEZZA, Mike)

Shots: Providence 10, Connecticut 11
Saves: Providence 2 (MURRAY, Timothy 2), Connecticut 6 (FORD, Josh 6)