Championship Central
Box Score
STORRS, CONN. – It took 110 minutes of action and penalty kicks to decide the winner of the second semifinal game between No. 1 UConn and No. 4 USF, and the Bulls came out on top with a win over the host Huskies Friday evening at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. USF advanced 2-0 on penalty kicks and will face No. 2 Tulsa in the championship finale on Sunday.
The Huskies controlled momentum for much of the game, taking 16 shot attempts compared to three by the Bulls. UConn had a couple of scoring chances late in the game, including several opportunities with 16 minutes remaining in regulation. A shot by Nicholas Zuniga at the 74:04 mark was saved by USF keeper Spasoje Stefanovic, and a header by Sergio Campbell in the 75th minute was wide. The Huskies had a pair of corner kicks by Dylan Greenberg and Ethan Vanacore-Decker in the 82nd and 83rd minutes, respectively, but could not convert.
The Bulls, who played a man down in the final 26 minutes of action including both overtimes, took no shot attempts in the extra frames.
Both overtime periods were fairly even, as neither side created any strong scoring chances. Vanacore-Decker’s shot for UConn in the 102nd minute was saved by Stefanovic and after 110 scoreless minutes, the game went to penalty kicks.
In the shootout, Huskies miscues combined with key saves by Stefanovic gave USF the 2-0 victory in PKs.
Sunday’s championship game between USF and Tulsa will be carried live by ESPN3 at Noon ET. For more information on the American Men’s Soccer Championship, please visit www.theamerican.org/msoccer.