Huskies Shut Down Harvard’s Comeback

Under the bright lights at Jordan Field Wednesday night, No. 4 University of Connecticut ended the Harvard field hockey team’s undefeated home record. The Huskies scored within the first three minutes of the game and tallied four additional goals on their way to a convincing 5-1 win.

“Connecticut is a very experienced team. They can attack from all ten positions. Regardless of what the scoreboard says, I think we stepped up and competed for 70 minutes,” head coach Sue Caples said. “We don’t like the outcome, but there were some good things that happened out there.”

The Huskies took control of the game in the first half. Three minutes into the action, UConn midfielder Katie Semanoff found forward Lauren Aird in front of the goal where she fired a shot past senior goaltender Kylie Stone. The Huskies kept the pressure on, forcing play to take place primarily on the Crimson’s half of the field. In the first half alone, UConn recorded 11 shots and three penalty corners. Before the end of the half, Aird tallied her second goal after Stone left the net to challenge an attempted shot. The forward gathered the ball in front of the net and fired the ball into the cage. The Huskies finished the first half with a close-range goal from forward Bethany Semlear.

“We were a little nervous coming out because we knew they were a highly ranked team in the country,” sophomore forward Maggie McVeigh said. “But we just knew we had to give it our all.”

UConn didn’t waste time beginning the second half as Jill Kleeblad knocked a shot through the legs of Stone and into the goal. Less than three minutes later, Melissa Gonzalez scored a goal into the left side of the net recording the Huskies’ fifth and final goal of the game.

Harvard showed some fire late in the second half. With ten minutes left in the game, McVeigh scored the Crimson’s first and only goal. Senior back Francine Polet fired a hard pass to McVeigh from just outside the circle. McVeigh redirected the ball past UConn goaltender Andrea Mainiero to score her first goal of the season.

“We practiced it before, this situation,” McVeigh said. “I made eye contact with Francine who had the assist and she passed it to me and I just deflected it.”

Harvard came close to scoring soon thereafter, but the attempts were denied with a few impressive saves from Mainiero.

“I thought we competed really well,” senior co-captain Kayla Romanelli said. “They made us better and it’s good preparation for Penn.”

The Crimson showed marked improvement in the second half, outshooting the Huskies 6-3 in the second half.

“I think we were very solid. Everyone did the job that was asked of them,” Caples said. “Can we execute it better? Absolutely. They are the best team we have played so far, so the pace is higher, the speed of execution is a lot faster. We made some mistakes and they capitalized, but they made us a better team.”