High hopes to be put to the test against St. Peter's

For the returning members on the men's soccer team, this season is a new beginning with high hopes and aspirations. But all the preseason hype and expectations mean very little to this team. To them, the only thing that matters is winning one game at a time. For the Huskies, that time has come as they host St. Peter's College (N.J.) under the lights at Morrone Stadium on tonight.

Earlier this month, the Huskies were preseason ranked No.2 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) preseason poll and No. 1 in the Big East preseason coaches' poll. Earlier this week, Soccer America also gave UConn a preseason No. 2 rank.

The Huskies were 2-0 in preseason play. But the opening night matchup against the Peacocks won't be a cake-walk for this experienced Husky squad. It will be a true testament to how well UConn has trained in the offseason.

Matching up against the Huskies tonight will be St. Peter's senior forward Chris DeAbreu who has also been named a player on the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy watch list. Behind DeAbreu, St. Peters has two athletes on their roster that hail from St. Benedict's Prep (N.J.). St. Benedict's is an all-boys, private high school whose soccer program was ranked No. 1 in the nation by the NSCAA in 2006. The two Peacocks were on that No. 1 team.

"[St. Peter's] is good," said head coach Ray Reid. "They'll be up for us. This will be a tough match; opening night isn't going to be an easy one, but we want to be challenged."

St. Peter's features players that hail from Israel to Italy and South Africa to Canada. In addition to the high level of competition on the other side of the ball, the Huskies are coming into the season a half-step behind where they'd like to be.

"We're not ready yet," Reid said. "We need another week but we're not going to get it. Hopefully we'll be ready by seven on Friday night."

Everyone on the team is healthy enough to play, according to Reid.

"Guys are sore, guys are tired, guys have been knocked up a little bit," said Reid. "I think we have pieces, but it's going to take some time. When we came back in January, after being off six weeks, it took a month to get these guys playing up to the speed they were playing a month earlier."

UConn boasts three players on the 2008 M.A.C. Hermann trophy preseason watch list. Last year's winner, senior O'Brian White, leads the Huskies, while the other two to make the list were junior Toni Stahl and senior Akeem Priestly.

Last year, White led the NCAA in goals with 23 and points with 53. But under the team's plan of focus for this season, these stats don't mean anything unless the team wins the game. This year, White needs to be the most effective player he can be without worrying about scoring goals, Reid said.

"We may be a better team with him getting 16 goals," Reid said. "He could score 30 goals and we could be a worse team. He's just got to be what he can be, and if the other guys play like they can play, it'll be a good combination of players."