Diouf leads Huskies into weekend showdown with St. John's

With last night's 2-0 win over Boston Collge, the Huskies now head into Big East play undefeated and on offensive fire with eight goals in their last two games.

Junior striker Mamadou Doudou Diouf scored both UConn goals against the Eagles, one in each half, to move to a team high six.

In the 11th minute Carlos Alvarez played a cute one-two with Stephane Diop on the left wing to set Alvarez free down the flank. Alvarez then played a ball on the ground into Diouf’s feet who cut back on to his right foot and then curled the ball just enough to nestle into the side netting of the Boston College goal.

Late in the second half, Diouf successfully completed a run into the Boston College box and forced the defense into conceding a corner. On the ensuing corner Boston College failed to deal with the ball in the air and as it bounced up struck a Boston College player in the arm earning UConn a penalty kick. Diouf then stepped up and drilled a left footed shot into the roof of the Boston College net, earning his brace.

Diouf has shown his nerve from the spot numerous times for UConn, a skill that could prove extremely valuable in the latter stages of the season.

“Just score (that’s all I think about), I should be able to score. I’m confident, if I’m not I’m not gonna take it. No pressure, it’s just shooting, you shoot it and put it in the net or you miss it, and I don’t think about missing because I’m sure I will put it in the net,” said Diouf.

Despite the 2-0 score, UConn never dominated the match, failing to capitalize after the early goal.

“(In the) first half we dominated really well, we moved the ball forward, backwards, however we wanted. Second half, we did struggle a little bit, we were not engaging their midfield as much and we were paying the price, they were moving the ball on us, but at the end of the day we got the result,” said Senior Captain Carlos Alvarez.

Head Coach Ray Reid also felt the team still has room for improvement going into the first Big East conference match against St. John’s.

“We’re worried about St. John’s and that’s it, we gotta be ready to play, we gotta play better than we did tonight. We weren’t sharp enough,” said Reid.

Playing St John’s so early in the season will undoubtedly evoke memories of last season’s Big East Championship match against St. John’s, a match that UConn lost 1-0 in extra time in heartbreaking fashion. But Coach Reid is not adding any extra pressure to the match.

“It’s the first Big East game, that’s enough incentive,” said Reid.

With Wednesday’s win, UConn has now gone 30 regular season matches unbeaten at fortress Morrone stadium.

The Huskies will face St. John in their Big East opener at 7 p.m. on Saturday at a sold out Joseph J. Morrone Stadium.