UConn men's soccer takes on New England rival Boston College

The No. 4 ranked University of Connecticut men’s soccer team will now play three matches in the next seven days after pushing back their match against Boston College at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium to Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

In their last match UConn vanquished Harvard 6-0, despite scoring just six goals in their previous five matches combined.

Forward Mamadou Doudou Diouf started the route in the fifth minute and had a brace inside 12 minutes. Stephane Diop added another before halftime and Carlos Alvarez tacked on the fourth in the 46th minute.

Then, in the 58th minute right back Max Wasserman curled in another trademark free kick, showing his ability to strike a dead ball has been no fluke. To complete the route, Allando Matheson scored his third of the season earning UConn the 6-0 win.

In recognition of his great match, Diouf was named in the College Soccer News National Team of The Week and was just beat by Marquette’s Axel Sjoberg as the Big East Offensive Player of the Week.

UConn’s stellar 5-0-1 start has been based on their solid defensive unit, that has only allowed two goals in nine hours of soccer. The center back pairing of Jossimar Sanchez and Sergio Campbell have been tough in the tackle and combative in the air but more importantly to the team ethos, both possess the passing ability to play out from the back and play the possession style game Head Coach Ray Reid wants. At left back Michael Mercado plays the bigger defensive role of the two fullbacks, allowing right back Max Wasserman to act as a supplemental winger down the right side.

UConn’s opponent for Wednesday night, Boston College, have started 2-2-1 and have been flirting with a Top 25 ranking all season, being ranked 24th last week. Oddly enough, this will be Boston College’s third match in Connecticut despite only playing two in Massachusetts.

Boston College started the season with a 2-1 win in Connecticut against Quinnipiac, and then lost to Boston University 1-0, a team that UConn drew with 1-1. Boston College then came back into Connecticut and beat Fairfield 1-0 before falling to No. 3 ranked Maryland 4-0. In their most recent match, Boston College drew 1-1 with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

After the win in Cambridge, UConn return to Morrone Stadium where the current seniors have only lost twice. UConn will hope for another big crowd to create a frantic atmosphere to propel the team forward. At home, UConn have averaged 4,218 fans in their first four matches, almost matching a New England Revolution match earlier in the season (6,149).

After taking on Boston College, UConn will begin their Big East conference campaign when they take on St. John’s Saturday night at Morrone Stadium before facing interstate rivals Yale in New Haven next Tuesday.