After watching his teammates reel off five straight shutout victories without him, senior midfielder Mike Pezza was out to prove the Huskies were better still with him on the field.
The playmaker from Jackson, N.J. had suffered a stretched ligament in his left foot against Rutgers in the team's last loss on Sept. 20. After suiting up against West Virginia over the weekend without seeing any action, Pezza was the first Husky off the bench in Wednesday night's 4-0 win over No. 6 Harvard, replacing Tony Cascio at the 16:35 mark.
It wasn't long after that the 2007 NCAA leader in assists reminded the Morrone crowd what he can do. In the 32nd minute, Pezza served a ball that pierced through the defensive third of the Crimson to find junior back Shawn Nicklaw in the box on the near side. A blistering cross from the endline by Nicklaw set up Alan Ponce's game-winner at 32:59.
"I was eager - the last six games, sitting on the bench - to jump on the field and do something," Pezza said. "A lot of people were joking around with me, saying, 'hey Pez, it's better with you off the field 'cause we're winning now,' but I got back on the field and we got a huge win today, so it was good."
The assist was Pezza's third on the year in seven games and the 33rd of his career. He led the nation in helpers his sophomore season with 19, good for the second-highest single season total in program history.
Coach Ray Reid knows how important it is for one of his best distributors to return to the lineup with the stretch run looming.
"He gives us another option," Reid said. "He comes in, boom, sets up the first goal. Of course it is [good to have him back]."
Ford Shutout streak continues
Fresh off two more shutouts and Big East Goalkeeper of the Week honors, junior keeper Josh Ford added to his conference-high shutout tally with his ninth on the season and 36th of his career - putting him just two behind UConn's all-time leader Adam Schuerman.
With Wednesday's blanking of Harvard, the Huskies have now kept the opposition off the board for a staggering 560 minutes. It's the longest such scoreless streak UConn's defense has posted since 2007.
Rankings, Shmankings
The Huskies own a 3-1-1 record against ranked opponents in 2009 and have won three of their last four dating back to their 1-0 win over then-No. 18 St. John's on Sept. 25. They are 3-1-0 in the confines of Morrone Stadium.
Alvarez getting hot
Ford wasn't the only Husky to receive Big East weekly attention for his recent efforts. Freshman forward Carlos Alvarez took home the conference's top rookie honor for last week after registering his first career goal against Providence to go along with a pair of assists. He scored his second and third collegiate goals Wednesday night, the second of which put an exclamation point on UConn's 4-0 rout.
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