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Storrs. Baltimore. Los Angeles. Charlottesville. Philadelphia?
The road to the College Cup for the Men’s Soccer team continues tonight with a match-up against the #8 seed Virginia Cavaliers, with a spot in the final 4 and a trip to Philly on the line.
The Huskies are coming off an emotional, exhausting, and historic victory last Sunday on the road over #1 seed UCLA on penalties. The path to the College Cup has not been easy for UConn, now having to travel on the road for the third straight game to take on a top 10 opponent. To date, the Huskies have been up to the challenge, reversing a multi-year curse of penalty kick shootout losses along the way.
In their last match against UCLA, UConn outshot the #1 seed on their home field and controlled a majority of the action, winning possession in the midfield and using timely overlapping runs on the wings to create plenty of goal-scoring opportunities in the box for Cyle Larin (6th in goals scored in the country) and senior Mamadou Diouf.
The Huskies will look to exploit a depleted UVA defensive line which will be playing without starter Matt Brown. Brown was sent off with a red card in the first minute of UVA’s victory Sunday over Marquette and will miss this quarterfinal match. However, the Cavaliers are a potent offensive team, ranking 15th nationally in scoring offense and are tied for ninth-most with 42 goals on the season.
UConn has their eyes on the prize this season after a few years in a row of disappointing tournament exits. But with upperclassmen leadership all over the pitch, stellar goalkeeping from junior Andre Blake, and freshman phenom Larin finishing with precision and authority, this Husky team is focused on one goal: Philly. One more road win in dramatic fashion will get them there.
Game time tonight is at 7 pm EST and will be broadcast on the radio at 91.7 WHUS, as well as streamed live at http://ulive.cbssports.com/index-ncaa-dev.html?media=422968.