Field hockey takes home Big East tournament title

Three hundred sixty four days after last year's loss in the Big East championship, revenge was achieved.

The No. 7 UConn field hockey team defeated No. 5 Syracuse to win the Big East tournament championship Sunday in Providence 2-1. Last year, the Orange scored off a penalty corner with no time remaining to beat UConn 1-0 in the conference championship game in Storrs. It is the Huskies' 11th Big East tournament championship, the most in Big East history, and coach Nancy Stevens' 500th victory as an NCAA coach.

The No. 2 seed Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Ali Blankmeyer tipped in a pass from Loren Sherer at 6:10 in the first half. Both teams continued to battle but the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Huskies for the rest of the half. Each team took only three shots in the first half.

The No. 1 seed Orange dug themselves into a hole after UConn capitalized following a foul committed by Amy Kee, forcing Syracuse to play down a man for eight minutes. The man advantage led to a goal from Loren Sherer after a pass from Jestine Angelini on the left side of the circle. With that goal Sherer tied the UConn single season record at 31.

Penalties and fouls continued to affect both sides throughout the second half. At 45:04 Syracuse's Maggie Befort received the team's second yellow card of the half. As a result, the Orange played two players down for the next five minutes. Twelve minutes later UConn's Ali Blankmeyer acquired a yellow card of her own.

With only six minutes left in regulation the Orange showed signs of rebirth, as Nicole Nelson scored her first goal of the season. However the extra offensive effort ended there.

The Huskies reached their eighth consecutive championship game after a 2-0 win versus Louisville, Saturday in Providence. It was a defensive struggle as there were only 19 total shots in the game, 12 from UConn. The Huskies' strong defensive play did not allow a Cardinal shot until 24 minutes into the first half. In fact, Andrea Mainiero was forced to make only two saves in achieving her seventh shutout of the season and the 24th in her career.

Sherer had another outstanding offensive performance, netting the game's only two goals. Her first was off a penalty corner in the first half, assisted by Kim Kryzk and Angelini. Her second came 10 minutes into the second half off of a feed from Angelini. Angelini had a phenomenal game all-around. In addition to her two assists, she mad a defensive save to prevent the Orange from scoring on an open net.

After scoring three goals Sherer was named the Big East's Most Outstanding Player. Melissa Gonzalez, Rayell Heistand, Mainiero and Kryzk were named to the Big East all-tournament team.

As Big East Champions, the Huskies have an automatic berth into the 16-team NCAA tournament. With the playoff berth the Huskies will appear in the tournament for the 21st time. UConn is 26-18 all-time in the tournament. The schedule for the Division I tournament is expected in the coming days. The Final Four will take place at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. The locations of the first and second rounds have not yet been decided.