The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Dan Gindraux West Virginia goalie Zach Johnson skies over O'Brian White (left) to make a save.

The stage was set for a UConn victory. Morrone Stadium was sold out, fans had donated over 1,000 balls to the Kick for Nick Foundation, the match was on national television and there was even a small pep band. The Huskies were set to avenge last year's loss to West Virginia. But nobody told the Mountaineers.

For the third year in a row, West Virginia (3-4-3, 2-1-2 Big East) downed UConn 1-0 in front of 4,409 stunned fans Friday.

The Mountaineers' decisive goal came in the 29th minute, when Alex Silva's took a pass from Paul Paradise, his shot from the left side barely rolling past a diving Josh Ford. It was Silva's first goal of the year, and only West Virginia's fifth.

The Huskies (5-2-3, 3-2-0) controlled the ball for much of the remainder of the match, taking 16 shots compared to four (two in each half) from West Virginia.

Although they mustered 16 shots, not one of them came off the foot of O'Brian White, a fact that left coach Ray Reid seemingly at a loss for words.

"Yeah, I don't know," Reid said. "I don't know why he didn't get a shot."

With seven minutes remaining, while play was stopped for an injury, senior captain Dori Arad gathered his team around midfield.

"I told them you've got seven minutes to save the game," Arad said. "We've been practicing [situations where we are] down a goal all year long and I thought we had it. But we came up short."

West Virginia goalie Zach Johnson continuously made save after save and, thanks to his 6-foot-5 frame, was able to snatch away any legitimate scoring chances UConn had. This was Johnson's sixth shutout of the season.

"He's a good goalie, you've got to give him credit," Arad said. "We crossed a lot of balls that he got."

Although Johnson's net-minding extinguished some of UConn's scoring chances, one time almost taking the ball off of Toni Stahl's head, Reid did not credit the goalie's play with their inability to come away with a tie or a win.

"He made one or two good saves," Reid said. "It's not like he made 20 saves."

The Huskies lead the all-time series against the Mountaineers, 11-4-2, but three of the four losses have come in the last three years, two of them coming at home.

From here, UConn travels to Providence on Wednesday, and Arad said that the Huskies must put this one behind them and win the next game.

"Every game it's a new game," Arad said. "We dominated most of the game but we just gave up a cheap goal that should not have happened."

Reid seemed perplexed as to why his team, which has last year's NCAA scoring leader in White, has yet to have any offensive consistency.

"We've got to look at the film and try to correct some mistakes," Reid said.

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