SQUEEZE THE ORANGE

The UConn women’s soccer team will travel to New York on Thursday to take on their rivals, the Syracuse Orange, at 7 p.m.. The contest will be the first game of Big East conference play for both squads. The game will also be UConn’s (4-2-1) first “true” road game, as their first seven games have been either at home or at a neutral site.

UConn has been hot lately, winning their last two matches, one at home against Marist and the other away against Central Connecticut State. The Huskies beat the CCSU Blue Devils, 4-1, behind Danielle Schulmann’s three goals and one assist in the first game of their five-game road trip.

Schulmann was named Soccer News Net Player of the Week for her efforts in the two victories, to go along with capturing Big East Player of the Week honors as well. The senior striker started the season on the bench because she didn’t pass the team’s fitness requirements, but with seven goals and six assists on the year, that hasn’t seemed to slow down her torrid offensive pace.

As for the Orange (3-3-1), this will only be their third home game of the season, albeit only one of their seven games has been played outside of New York thus far. The Orange are coming off of a four-game road trip where they won two games and dropped the other two.

The Huskies blanked the Orange 1-0 at home in the 2011 edition of the matchup, which also happened to be the Big East opener for both teams. Schulmann scored the lone goal of the game in the 12th minute off a cross. UConn and Syracuse both played 10-man soccer for a large chunk of the game after red cards were issued to players on both teams.

The game, like all other UConn soccer contests, can be heard on 91.7 FM WHUS and online at whus.org.