Cara Silverman redirected Ali Blankmeyer’s strike from the middle of the shooting circle into the back of the net to give Connecticut its first lead with just under 10 minutes remaining.

The late second-half goal elicited an eruption of cheers from the UConn bench as the Huskies finally took control of the game.

‘We just weren’t going to lose,’ senior back Jestine Angelini said. ‘We all knew what we had to do.’

Silverman’s goal capped a 3-2 comeback victory for No. 4 Connecticut (17-1, 6-0 Big East) as it knocked off Louisville (10-9, 3-3) in the semifinals of the Big East tournament at J.S. Coyne Stadium. The top-seeded Huskies overcame a gritty first-half effort by the fourth-seeded Cardinals, scoring three unanswered goals to avoid the upset. Connecticut dominated possession of the ball and applied constant pressure in the second half to advance to its fourth consecutive championship game against the host No. 5 Syracuse on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Cardinals came out ready to play in the first half against Connecticut, who has won 11 of the 13 meetings in the series. Senior midfielder Hayley Turner gave Louisville an early 1-0 advantage 2:21 into the game, scoring off a penalty corner.  Sophomore forward Elizabeth Vance followed suit eight minutes later, knocking in a beautiful cross by Erin Schneidtmiller from the right side to push Louisville’s lead to two goals. 

Dissatisfied with her team’s start, Connecticut head coach Nancy Stevens called a timeout at the 24:34 mark and gave her players a chance to collect themselves. 

‘You get one timeout a game, and you have to use it to stop their momentum, like icing a kicker in football,’ Stevens said. ‘It’s about taking the timeout, stopping their momentum and building from that. From that moment on, we felt we were going to win.’

The timeout proved to be the turning point in the game, as Angelini scored minutes later to help Connecticut steal the momentum from its opponent.

The Huskies’ defense stifled the Louisville forwards for the remainder of the contest, holding them without a shot after the Cardinals scored their second and final goal at the 10:26 mark of the first half. 

Angelini, who made key contributions on offense, led the stellar defensive effort following the timeout. The Cardinals were unable to dribble the ball through the middle of the field because of Angelini’s effective tackling. Her presence on the field forced Louisville to filter the ball through the forwards down the sidelines, which proved ineffective against the Connecticut defensive pressure. 

‘She’s special,’ Stevens said. ‘To anchor the defense, to allow no shots in the second half, and to have a goal and an assist, she was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year for a reason and I think she played well today.’

Louisville’s game plan in the first half revolved around feeding Turner the ball down the right sideline. After a productive first half in which Turner displayed her talented dribbling and helped set up the play for the Cardinals’ second goal, Angelini and the Connecticut backs knew they had to make an adjustment heading into halftime. 

Stevens gave her team some advice during the break for the second half.

‘The emphasis was to keep the intensity up and play hard for a full half,’ Angelini said.

And the Huskies responded in a big way.

Led by Angelini and the rest of the seniors, the Huskies didn’t allow an inch of space for the Louisville forwards to attack. The Cardinals possessions were short, choppy and often interrupted by tackles by the Connecticut backs.

That strong defensive effort fueled the team’s comeback in the second half. And though it wasn’t the Huskies most convincing victory this season, it was enough to move on to the championship game.

‘It’s difficult to come back in a sport like field hockey from two goals down. Goals are precious,’ Stevens said. ‘We start six seniors, they’re experienced, they didn’t panic, and we were able to come back and win.’

awmirmin@syr.edu

Published on November 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm