Men’s Soccer remains unbeaten with tie

The University of Connecticut men’s soccer team is still undefeated after avoiding losses in both of their weekend matches. Each needed extra time to be decided, with UConn defeating the University of Washington 1-0 on Friday and drawing 1-1 with Boston University Sunday.

It was a battle of the Huskies on Friday, as UConn took on Washington in Fox Soccer Channel’s NCAA soccer match of the week. Sophomore forward Allando Matheson was rewarded for his recent excellent play with a starting spot up front, partnering Mamadou Doudou Diouf in a 4-4-2 formation. Washington brought an extremely direct style of play with them from the west coast, catching the East Coast Huskies off-guard with such physical play.

“All around it was a big strong team, they play direct the whole game, that’s not our style of play but we reacted to it and tried to impose our play,” said senior captain Jossimar Sanchez.

UConn kept possession of the ball well, but when Washington had possession they played long balls and asked questions of the UConn backline.

In the second half it was more of the same, as UConn looked for a gap through the Washington defense on the ground while Washington looked for gaps in the air.

The match was decided in overtime, as Carlos Alvarez picked up the ball in his own half and pushed forward, beating two Washington players before he was brought down as he beat a third defender.

A red card was shown and UConn had a free kick 20 yards from goal.

Max Wasserman and Alverez both stood over the ball, but Wasserman curled the free kick into the net, giving UConn the win 1-0

“Carlos set the ball up, we were both kind of looking at the wall and I saw that the far post was open and I told Carlos I wanted it, and kind of felt confident in the kick and went for it, and it went right where I wanted it to go. I was happy with it,” said Carlos Alverez about Wasserman’s goal.

In the second match of the weekend, UConn took on Boston University in a 1-1 draw.

The Huskies took the lead in the 31st minute, when Alverez was one-on-one with the Terriers’ keeper and lobbed the ball over him for his first goal of the season.

BU pegged the score back to 1-1 when forward Ali Sozeri headed a volleyed shot past Andre Blake. After the goal, other than one outstanding save by Blake, neither team threatened the other’s goal.

 “We started off the match really well and we let it get away from us, we never really took control of the game, after the first half it became a bit of a scrum and were not great at that, we gotta do a better job of taking care of the ball and finishing our chances,” UConn coach Ray Reid said.

The men play their next match against Harvard on Friday night in Boston.