The men's soccer team started their final four game stretch, all against top 10 ranked opponents with a 4-0 loss to the University of Connecticut, Wednesday night at Joseph J. Morrone stadium.
Trailing 2-0 at halftime the Pirates were fairly even with the Huskies aside from the score. The two teams were tied in shots with eight, and the Hall lead with three corner kicks to Connecticut's one.
Once again it came down to the second half with the Pirates just unable hold themselves together. Head coach Gerson Echeverry stressed before the game how the Pirates needed to play hard for a full 90 minutes.
"In the second half we unravel, but in the first half we were actually playing quite well." Echeverry said. "So I think right now it's just a matter of our guys being able to maintain focus and play through a whole game."
Connecticut opened up the scoring in the 18th minute when senior forward Stephane Diop netted the goal between the legs of the Pirates' junior Kevin Bonder. Diop took the pass from junior midfielder Colin Bradley from the left side of the six-yard box.
The Huskies continued to pour it on when junior forward Mamadou Doudou Diouf put away his 10th goal of the season in the 21st minute, on a header from the top of the six yard box.
During the second half the Pirates went stagnant on offense, producing only three shots as opposed to eight in the first half. Where the Pirates faltered the Huskies capitalized, taking 10 shots in the second half, finishing with 18 for the game.
Junior captain Max Garcia was the only Pirate to put a shot on goal, with two of his five shots needing to be saved. The Hall generated zero shots on goal during the second half to extend their offensive woes in to this match.
"Right now any time we play some of the ranked teams, when we played ODU first half it was 0-0, we kind of came apart in the second half," Echeverry said. "They overwhelmed us with substitutions and every time they brought in a player the level didn't drop. VCU, same thing. It was 2-1, we had some opportunities, and in the second half we unravel."
Huskies senior left back Flo Liu netted Connecticut's third goal in the 49th minute on an assist from Diouf. Liu and Diouf executed a give and go inside the box leading to Liu ripping a shot into the right corner of the net.
The rout of the Pirates finally ended in the 62nd minute when Diouf scored his second goal of the night, on a one touch shot from 10 yards out.
The Pirates return action when they hit the field on the road to take on No. 5 Marquette this Saturday.
Dennis Chambers can be reached at Dennis.Chambers@student.shu.edu.
