Eagles Soar Past Bulldogs, 6-2

The Yale men's hockey team gave it their all, but dropped a 6-2 decision
to No. 12 Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Tuesday.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.—Tyler Welsh and Justin Pearson scored goals, but it wasn’t enough for the Yale men’s hockey team who fell to No. 12 Boston College, 6-2, in a non-conference contest at Conte Forum on the BC campus Tuesday night.

After giving up the first two goals of the game early in the opening frame, the Bulldogs—who played without four skaters and one goalie with injuries—found the net to cut the lead in half. Dante Palecco passed the puck to the point for defenseman Billy Sweezey, who fired a shot off BC goalie Spencer Knight’s pads. Welsh crashed the net and beat a defender to the rebound for a put-back from his knees off the edge of the crease at 10:30. It was his third goal of the season.

Yale, outshot 30-25 overall, fell behind 4-1 before Pearson got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard with a power-play goal. Welsh passed the puck across the lower slot to the sophomore forward and Pearson (second goal) wristed it top shelf early in the third.

Nicholas MacNab got the start between the pipes for the Elis and made nine stops while allowing three tallies in the first period before Corbin Kaczperski came on to finish the contest. Kaczperski turned aside 15 BC shots.

The Bulldogs are off this weekend and back in action on Dec. 6 and 7 at Union and RPI.

—Staff Reports

#ThisIsYale

UConn WBB Announces 2020 Signing Class

STORRS—The UConn women’s basketball team has signed five members to the Class of 2024 as

head coach Geno Auriemma announced the incoming freshmen Wednesday. The Huskies welcome Paige Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards, Piath Gabriel, Mir McLean and Nika Muhl to Storrs next season. UConn has espnW’s No. 2 overall class for 2020. Bueckers is the No. 1 ranked recruit while McLean is ranked No. 21 and Edwards is No. 26.

UConn has espnW’s No. 2 overall class for 2020. Bueckers is the No. 1 ranked recruit while McLean is ranked No. 21 and Edwards is No. 26.

“I think we’ve got a good mix of inside, outside, middle,” Auriemma said. “When you look at our team now, we’re young in some ways. We’re inexperienced in some ways. We don’t have the kind of size that we’ve had in the past. Even though we’re going to be young next year, I think the depth and the experience that we have this year plus the youth next year. I like how we’ve been able to package a lot of different things into five different players. Not one of them is remotely like the other one, and that’s a really neat thing.”

Meet the New Huskies

PAIGE BUECKER

G, 5-11, Eden Prairie, Minn.4

Auriemma on Bueckers

“The thing that is impressive to me about Paige is how unselfish she is and her ability to get everyone involved in the game and her knack of getting to the basket. She’s going to add, to us, a bigger guard that can impact the game, whether she’s shooting it or passing it. It’s important for us to get kids that are talented and unselfish and can score, and Paige has been able to do all those things.”

AALIY AH EDWARDS

G, 6-2, Kingston, Canada

Auriemma on Edwards

“Playing for the Canadian National Team has given Aaliyah a tremendous amount of confidence and a lot of exposure to really good basketball at a really high level. She’s tough, she’s aggressive, she goes all out all the time. She can become an amazing defender for us, she can become a scorer that scores from a lot of different places. I think we’re getting a really mature, experience player that can play a lot of different positions for us.”

PIATH GABRIEL

F, 6-5, Manchester, N.H.

Auriemma on Gabriel

“The first time I saw Piath play, I was impressed by how hard she works. How hard she runs the floor. How willing she is to mix it up in the lane. There’s some things offensively that she needs to work on that I think we can help her with. Of all the big kids that I saw this season, she really impressed me with her work ethic. I think Piath is probably going to be the biggest surprise of all the kids coming into college next year.”

MIR MCLEAN

G, 5-11, Owings Mills, Md.

Auriemma on McLean

“Mir is just a different kind of athlete. She’s a little bit like Aubrey [Griffin] in that she can get to places on the floor that most players can’t. She can get the balls off the rim that most players can’t. She competes as hard, if not harder, that anybody that I’ve seen. We needed to get a lot quicker and a lot more athletic, and having Mir, we’ve done that.”

NIKA MUHL

G, 5-10, Zagreb, Poland

Auriemma on Muhl

“What I like about Nika is she just has this incredible passion for the game. She has a certain toughness about her that comes from playing in a really competitive environment over in Croatia. Along with Paige, she’s another player that I think gets a lot of satisfaction out of getting someone else the ball and not necessarily focusing ons coring. I just love her enthusiasm and passion for the game and how tough she is physically and mentally. I think the fans are really going to like Nika.”

—Staff Reports

Huskies Upset No. 15 Florida

UConn’s Josh Carlton jostles with freshman forward

Omar Payne of Florida for the ball. UConn upset

No. 15 Florida, 62-59.

STORRS—Call this one a statement game, if you will. Senior Christian Vital registered 15 points, five assists and four rebounds and Tyler Polley added 15 points and five rebounds of his own as the UConn men's basketball team (2-1) knocked off No. 15 Florida (2-2), 62-59, in front of an electric sellout crowd Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion. 

Josh Carlton and Alterique Gilbert also scored in double digits for Connecticut, putting up 13 and 10 points, respectively. The Huskies displayed a strong overall game, winning the battle of the boards by out-rebounding the Gators 38-37, scoring more second chance points (9-5) and registering two more assists than the visitors.

This was UConn's first win over a ranked opponent at Gampel since UConn beat Florida back in Dec. 2, 2013. The Gators were ranked No. 15 nationally back on that date too.

After Florida opened the contest with a 6-0 run, Polley got Connecticut on the scoreboard with a second-chance layup. On the ensuing possessions, Isaiah Whaley knocked down a jumper from the right side and Vital scored seven quick points to give UConn an 11-6 lead.

Florida responded to tie the game at 18-18 with 4:17 left in the half, but Polley's triple following an offensive rebound and feed from Vital gave UConn a lead they wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the half. The Huskies scored seven of the final nine points to take a 25-20 lead into the break.

Kerry Blackshear's three-pointer knotted the score at 29 early in the half. Polley responded with back-to-back triples of his own and then a couple plays later, Vital knocked down a pull-up jumper to open up a 39-31 lead.

But the 15th-ranked Gators wouldn't go quietly and chipped their way back into the game, drawing within a point, 54-53, as the teams headed into the final media timeout.

UConn and UF traded blow for blow during the final stretch of regulation. Then, leading by a point with the shot clock winding down, Gilbert lulled his defender to sleep before draining a tough mid-range jumper to put the Huskies up 60-57 with 1:27 remaining in regulation. After the Gators answered with a quick score, Vital was fouled and knocked down two free throws to give the Huskies a three-point lead with 17 seconds left on the clock. But it wasn’t over yet.

Florida had one last chance to send the game into overtime. Andrew Nembhard misfired on his attempt, got the rebound and kicked the ball out to Keyontae Johnson. Johnson's pass was picked off by Vital, and the senior dribbled out the clock as UConn grabbed the 62-59 victory.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 2-1 while the Gators fall to 2-2. Next up for Connecticut will be a game at Buffalo where the Huskies will take on the 2-1 University at Buffalo Bulls on Thursday. Tip-off is at 9 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPNU. All UConn games are broadcast on the UConn IMG Radio Network.

—Staff Reports

#uconnmbb #uconn #BleedBlue #uconnhuskies #ThisIsUConn #huskies #uconnnation #gators #gatorshoop @gatorsmbk #WeChomp

The Gators came racing out of the gate, scoring the first six points of the contest. But the Huskies responded with an 11-0 run to grab a five point early in the game. The Gators stormed back to knot the score at 18-18 with 4:17 remaining in the half, 25-20 at intermission.

A trey by Florida’s Kerry Blackshear knotted the score again a 29 apiece early in the second half. Polley answered with back-to-back three-pointers, followed by a pull-up jumper by Vital to give the Huskies a 36-31 advantage early in the second half.

Having him out there is cr[BP1] itical,” said Carlton on Polley’s importance to the team. “He’s a guy that can shoot and rise up any defender that’s 6-9 and knock down threes. Any time we need a bucket he comes out with a clutch three.”

“In my opinion, he’s the best shooter in the country,” added Gilbert. “I tell him that, Coach tells him that, and we’re going to continue to preach that to him.”

The Gators regrouped and outscored the Huskies 22-15, highlighted by a trey from Andrew Nembhard, cutting the UConn lead to the slimmest of margins, 54-53, with 3:25 remaining in regulation. The teams swapped buckets down the stretch before Gilbert drained a mid-range jumper to stake the Huskies to a 60-57 lead with a 1:27 remaining in regulation. Florida answered with a layup bay Keyontae Gilbert in transition. After a missed three-point attempt by Polley followed by a missed short-ranged jumper by Nembhard, a steal by Vital with six ticks left on the clock finally sealed the deal for the Huskies.

“Year two, game three—[the] crowd was awesome,” said Huskies’ head coach Dan Hurley after the game. The students were incredible. It gave the lift that we need when we’re playing at home.”

After praising the crowd, Hurley lavished praise on his team.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” he continued. “We were locked in defensively. [The] guys followed the game plan to a ‘T.’

With the win, Connecticut improves to 2-1, while Florida slips to 2-2. Now it’s off to South Carolina where the Huskies will face Buffalo in the first round of the Charleston Classic on Thursday. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on ESPNU and ESPN News.

—with staff reports