The 2010 season ended for the men’s soccer team on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament, after Brown University handed the Huskies their first loss of the year at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium in a 7-6 shootout. The teams played 110 minutes that resulted in a 1-1 tie in regulation play and two scoreless overtime periods. UConn concludes the season with a 12-2-6 overall record.
Before the shootout, Huskies head coach Ray Reid replaced senior goalkeeper Josh Ford with fifth-year senior Matt Sangeloty.
“We’ve not been very good on penalties,” Reid said explaining his decision. “I can’t change 10 shooters, so I had to change something. It went back to a couple of years we’ve not been successful in penalties.”
Sangeloty and Brown goalkeeper Paul Granstrand each stopped one shot during the penalty kicks. On UConn’s eighth try, sophomore midfielder Max Wasserman sent his ball over the net. Brown’s Jay Hayward then pushed the ball by Sangeloty, advancing the Bears to the third round next weekend to play California, which beat UC-Santa Barbara 1-0 in overtime later in the day.
“It was a very exciting and hard fought game out there,” said Brown head coach Patrick Laughlin. “UConn is an outstanding program and they made it hard for us. Penalty kicks are a difficult thing to handle after you’ve played so hard for 110 minutes. Someone’s got to advance. We were just better on the penalty kick shootout.”
“You’re in a tournament game and there’s three things you have to do: Finish your chances, not give up a bad goal, and make your penalties,” said Reid. “As good as we played, we didn’t do any of them. We gave up a horrific goal to start the game. We had plenty of chances to get the second goal and then five shooters hit, the other two have got to put them in.”
Brown took an early lead when Taylor Gorman sent a sharp grounder past Ford at 7:57 of the first period.
“I saw it a little late, but it’s no reason not to make the save,” Ford said.
The Huskies evened the score at 86:50 in the second period, when freshman forward Mamadou Doudou Diouf headed the ball into the net following a scramble in front of the goal after a corner kick.
UConn outshot Brown 24-8 during the game, including a 5-3 advantage in overtime. Ford, the Huskies’ all-time shut-out leader in goal, made four saves during regulation and the overtime periods.
“You never like to settle the game on PKs, but we weren’t able to generate enough goals to win the game in regulation or overtime,” said senior midfielder Robert Brickley. “PKs is a tough way to win and tougher way to lose.”
