BIG EAST Championship The women's championship game will be Sunday, November 10 at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn. The men's title game is slated for Sunday, November 17 at Rutgers University. Both games will begin at noon. http://www.bigeast.org/sports/wsoccer/ NOTE: Sunday's Big East women's soccer championship will be on NESN and MSG with World Cup voice JP Dellacamera and Nelson Rodriguez in the booth in Storrs.
Rutgers ousted in semifinals STORRS, Conn. -- Rachel Kruze's goal in the 79th minute helped West Virginia post a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Rutgers last night in the Big East women's soccer semifinals. The Mountaineers, making their second straight Big East title appearance, got on the board first at 15:34, when Chrissie Abbott converted a penalty kick for her conference-leading 19th goal of the year. Rutgers standout Carli Lloyd answered three minutes later when she got a shot past West Virginia goalkeeper Laura Finley to tie the score 1-1. Ashley Shaben assisted on the goal. Early in the second half, Rutgers (10-8-2) took the lead when Lloyd found the back of the net again for her 12th goal of the season. West Virginia answered when Marisa Kanela scored her third goal of the season off an assist from Abbott. Finley made four saves in 90 minutes of action while Rutgers goalkeeper Christine Caldwell was credited with five saves in 90 minutes. West Virginia (17-1-1) held a 17-8 advantage in shots. The Mountaineers take on Connecticut in the final tomorrow at noon. --- Published in the Home News Tribune 11/09/02
Nice win for UCONN to beat WV 1 - 0 for their Big East Championship. Close call on the PK though. It was worth the trip up to see the game. They will pay Central CT in the first round. Game time TBA as of right now.
While UConn clearly had the better of play, I thought WVU got hosed on the penalty. It looked for all the world as though the defender beat the striker to challenge for the ball, the defender came late and bounced off, and the ref pointed to the spot.
The defender (Lewis?) was having a great game. The announcers had announced how strong she was playing just before it happened. I think her speed and ability to cut in between the player and the ball caught the ref off guard. It was an unfortunate way to decide the game. I still think that UCONN carried the momentum in the game but WV definitely had its chances. I thought that WV free kick had upper 90 written all over it.