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University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
UConn
Minutewomen Unstoppable As They Best No. 15 UConn 2-1
September 19, 2006 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 19, 2006
Final Stats | Photo Gallery
AMHERST, Mass. - Jim Rudy calls it unbelievable. One of the best regular season wins in memory. A tough-earned win over one of the nation's top teams. But Tuesday's 2-1 win over No. 15 UConn also showed the resiliency of a UMass team becoming accustomed to its winning ways.
"We're in new territory here," said Rudy. "It's an emotional win for so many reasons, and we knew we were up for a fight. We were up against national-caliber players. So we decided to not only outwork them every step of the way, but we simply knew we wanted it."
Jenny Roehrig's gamewinner at 62:32 revived one of the oldest rivalries in DI women's soccer, one that the Huskies seemed to have a handle on in the past few years--UMass' last win over UConn came in 1993. Roehrig's shot off of a pass by Melissa Toulouse beat keeper Stephanie Labbe, a Canadian National Team member, to the left to regain the lead in the second.
"Vintage J-Ro," said Rudy. "A phenomenal goal."
Britt Canfield started things rolling for the Minutewomen just 14:38 into the match. The long ball from Christina Nunes fell to Canfield, who trapped the shot before shooting and going up 1-0 with the score. Kaelyn Calwell also assisted on the play.
"That was the best goal I've seen from Britt," said Rudy. "She's battled through some nagging things from last season and is coming back to form."
UConn's Megan Schnur knotted it at one with a header off of a corner kick at 31:13. Alexandra Zedros took the corner for the Huskies.
Kristin Walker and the UMass defense had one of their finest showings, bottling people up and coming up big late in the game. Walker in particular was solid in net, turning away three key chances by UConn in the last 10 minutes of the match. She improves to 6-1-0 on the season after turning away a total of five saves.
"Walker's mobility is certainly coming along and she made big-time saves today," said Rudy. "She also played the best I've seen in some time. They gave everything tonight."
UMass, currently ranked No. 6 in the Northeast Region by the NSCAA, now turns to Vermont, a team they will face on Friday up in Burlington. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
