Plucenik sparks Huskies over St. Johns

The UConn women’s soccer benefitted from a breakthrough performance by Andrea Plucenik to roll over St. Johns 5-1 in Queens on Sunday afternoon.

Senior forward Danielle Schulmann her prolific scoring streak with a goal 10:39 into the first half to put the Huskies on the board. The goal was her ninth of the season and she is leading UConn in goals, assists (6) and points (24).

The Huskies were able to extend their lead when senior defender Karen Gurnon was able to finish on a corner kick from teammate Riley Houle for her first goal of the season and the second of her career.

With her team staked to a 2-0 advantage, Plucenik took over. The redshirt freshman entered the game with one goal on the season, but she would erupt for a hat trick on Sunday to push the game out of reach. She scored her first of the afternoon 37:46 into the first half and would connect again only four minutes later breaking away from the crowd and beating the goalie with a shot from ten yards out. The Huskies headed into halftime with a 4-0 advantage.

St. Johns would get on the board when Casey Marks scored with 62:48 remaining. The goal was the only mishap of the afternoon for UConn goalie Leigh-Ann Jaggon, who played her first complete collegiate game. The junior now has a record of 1-1 on the season.

The victory improved the Huskies Big East record to 1-1 following a conference-opening defeat to Syracuse last Thursday, 4-3. They will next be in action on Wednesday night for another Big East matchup when they travel to the nation’s capital to face Georgetown.