It was a grey but warm Sunday morning when the UConn field hockey team returned to the turf. They hosted the UMass Minutemen at Sherman Field for a quasi-exhibition to kick off a slate of spring competitions. While their fashionable season is played in the fall, the Huskies still get time to practice and play each semester. The game changed into unorthodox, played under an international time structure of four quarters rather than two halves. It became all UConn from start to complete as they ruled the first 1/2, retaining possession within the attacking half and operating the UMass defense. It turned into 5-0 UConn by halftime, capped off by an Abby Gooderham goal from an Antonia Tiedtke penalty corner. They also competed in rounds of penalty shootouts after the law game.
UConn might choose up greater dreams inside the 2d 1/2 and win the penalty shootouts, but it becomes a greater balanced affair as UMass positioned a couple waves of pressure on the Huskies. “There’s loads to like. Scoring the seven goals is incredible. Getting the shutout is critically critical,” Head Coach Nancy Stevens stated postgame, “All faces of the sport appeared really robust.” Both teams had been playing with brief benches because of graduating players. “We have one senior and one junior on the field. When you think of that in light of the performance nowadays, we couldn’t be extra thrilled,” stated Stevens.
The Huskies had been without a leading returning scorer and growing senior Svea Boker, who scored 18 goals and had 16 assists for fifty-two points in the fall. Boker is presently studying abroad in Melbourne, Australia, and will miss the whole spring season. She is gambling even overseas. It wasn’t all best, and the spring season is a big length for improvement, even though the focal point doesn’t wane from prevailing. “Here at UConn, we assume that winning is a talent. We are going to play to win the whole lot because that could be a found talent. We need to get our more youthful players in to get that enjoyment, and the spring permits you to try this,” Stevens said.
“Obviously, there are continually matters we need to paintings on. Our attack nook execution needs to be enhanced a bit. Our counterattack may be better,” Stevens said. “We ran in a half of field press the second one-two quarters, and we wished to break out from that and counterattack more correctly. That may be a factor of emphasis going ahead.” The contest against UMass changed into the lone domestic day out for UConn this spring. They will continue on to St. Joseph’s (PA) on Saturday, April 6, to tackle St. Joe’s, Rutgers, and Syracuse in a jamboree of sorts. They will then move slightly eastward into New Jersey to Princeton on Sunday, April 7; they will finish with some other Ivy League foe as they finish at Harvard on Saturday, April thirteen. UConn defeated Syracuse three in Syracuse and Rutgers 5-0 at the beginning of the NCAA tournament during the autumn. Princeton, however, came to Storrs on Oct. 7 and defeated UConn 5-2.
