UConn Men’s Soccer made a short trip to New Haven to get its seventh consecutive win on Tuesday night, 1-0 over the Yale Bulldogs.
Abdou Mbacke Thiam scored the game-winning goal in the 28th minute after a good series of passes from Niko Petridis and Alex Sanchez.
Scott Levene needed to make just one save thanks a dominant performance from the defense in what was UConn’s fifth straight shutout and ninth on the season.
UConn started off strong in the first half, ending it with a 4-1 advantage in shots. The Huskies maintained possession for large stretches, holding the ball and completing passes around the field to try and work toward the net.
The Huskies were taking what they were given, with Yale seeming content to sit back defensively and allow UConn to hold possession and looking to strike quickly on the counter attack.
The Bulldogs’ lone shot came in the 16th minutes when Lucas Kirby went streaking down to the box on the right side and cut in towards the middle of the field. His shot from just inside the line looked unstoppable off of his foot, but Levene went full extension to preserve the tie on his only save of the night.
Just over 10 minutes later, UConn broke though. In a gorgeous display of passing, Petridis sent the ball in to Sanchez who gave the ball to Mbacke Thiam in the center of the box. He buried it for his team-leading ninth goal of the year to give UConn a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
Yale began much stronger in possession in the second half. The Bulldogs had more of the ball and play was more back and forth, with neither team really able to set up shop save for a stretch of UConn in the 65th minute where they had corner kicks on three consecutive plays.
In the 84th minute, Yale made five substitutions and had possession in the offensive third for much of the final six minutes, but was unable to find the equalizer.
UConn (10-3-0, 3-0-0) next takes the field on Saturday against the South Florida Bulls at Morrone Stadium with kickoff at 7:00 p.m. The Huskies recently moved into the national rankings, coming in at No. 24.