CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | BOX SCORE
ORLANDO – Second-half scores from Dayonn Harris and Cole Venner sealed a American Athletic Conference semifinal berth for No. 4 seed UConn, as the Huskies defeated No. 5 seed Temple 3-1 on Tuesday evening.
The Huskies advance to meet No. 1 seed UCF on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Knights’ home facility. UConn and UCF battled to a 0-0 draw during the regular season.
Harris and Venner were on the receiving ends of assists by senior Abdou Mbacke Thiam, as the Huskies dominated the stat sheet, outshooting Temple 15-6 with seven corners. Goalkeeper Gianluca Catalano played the full 90 minutes without needing to make a save.
Even play dotted the first 20 minutes, with Temple receiving the night’s first fortunate bounce in the 25
th minute. Mohamed drove down the right flank and fired a shot into the UConn defense, which sent the deflection over the head of Catalano into the net.
The Owls nearly added another in the 32
nd minute, with Hermann Doerner’s header hitting the crossbar, but UConn received its own luck before the halftime break. The Huskies evened the score in the 40
th minute, when a turnover collected by Dylan Greenberg resulted in a shot by Venner, deflecting off Temple for an own goal.
Several good Husky chances early in the second frame were blocked by the Owl defense, and a two-on-one try by Harris sailed just wide in the 54
th minute.
UConn eventually converted after four second half shots on goal, when Mbacke Thiam sent a cross to Harris, who fired to the opposite side of the frame from Temple goalkeeper Simon Lefebvre in the 69
th minute.
Just four minutes later, Mbacke Thiam played the ball forward, this time connecting with Venner who threaded the needle between Lefebvre and the post from 15 yards out for UConn’s insurance goal.
Lefebvre turned aside four shots in the full 90 minutes of action.
The winner of Thursday’s semifinal will meet the winner of No. 6 Memphis and No. 2 SMU in Saturday’s American Athletic Conference Championship match at 7 p.m. ET.