Mixed results in Huskies' opening weekend

Asked on Wednesday whether or not his No. 2 team was ready for their season opener against St. Peters, the men's soccer team head coach Ray Reid was skeptical. Those doubts were allayed, somewhat with a 4-0 win Friday night against St. Peters. However, the offensive showcase was not repeated on Sunday, as the Huskies played to a 1-1 tie against No. 22 Tulsa.

UConn (1-0-1) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over the Peacocks (0-1) Saturday behind goals by O'Brian White and Akeem Priestley only 16 seconds apart in the 18th minute.

Although Priestley would go on to put in another goal, it was his assist to Mike Pezza that was perhaps most impressive. In the 66th minute, Priestly received a pass in the center of the box, and delivered a seemingly impossible pass to Pezza, who put it in the back of the net.

"I saw Boogie wide open and usually in that part of the field he likes to shoot," said Pezza. "I was hoping he would slip me the ball and luckily he did with a sweet little back flip with his heel and I just blasted it home."

Priestley said he was trying to emulate his favorite player, which led to the spectacular play.

"My favorite player of all time is Diego Maradona," Priestley said. "I see him do crazy stuff so I just try to imitate him."

With the first game in front of them, it was important for the Huskies to make a statement and despite a 4-0 shutout Pezza still feels as though they could have done more.

"It's good to open up and shut out whoever we play," Pezza said. "Even though it was 4-0, we could have gotten more goals."

Reid echoed Pezza.

"We need to play 90 minutes," said Reid. "We had a blip for about 30 minutes in the end of the first half and the start of the second half."

Priestley also had a list of areas where the team could improve heading into Sunday's match against defending Conference USA champion Tulsa.

"We can work on getting more fluid on passes and making better decisions," Priestly said. "There are still a lot of things we can work on."

Tulsa presented a much faster and more aggressive team to the Huskies, and it showed from the beginning. Tulsa dominated the first half, capitalizing on early injuries to UConn defenders Kwame Watson-Siriboe and Greg King, out-shooting 10 to 3, and going up 1-0 in the 14th minute on a goal by Eric DeFreitas.

Despite the 1-0 hole, Reid was not worried heading into halftime.

"I've said all year it's gonna be a lot harder than last year," Reid said. "I said 'You're being tested tonight let's see if you can handle it'."

UConn trailed much of regulation until White evened the score at one with less than three minutes left.

"It was a throw in from Karl and I saw the defender was stepping up," White said. "So I just flipped it where he couldn't reach it and put it in the far corner."

Although they were unable to come away with the win, Reid was pleased with the outcome.

"All things being equal, good result." Reid said. "The injuries really threw off the rhythm of the game."

White also mentioned injuries as a detractor.

"Honestly I'm not really happy with a tie at home," White said. "To lose a couple of guys and still get a point, I've got to be happy with that."

As for the status of the injuries, Reid said nothing will be known until today.

Aside from Watson-Siriboe, who was on crutches after the game, and King, senior captain Dori Arad did not play, but will be available for Wednesday night's game against Stony Brook.