PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Top seed Connecticut outpaced fourth seed Temple , 8-1, in the first semifinal of the BIG EAST Championship, presented by Jeep on Friday afternoon. The Huskies will play the winner of the second semifinal game between second-seed Liberty and third-seed Providence, on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on the BIG EAST Digital Network via the FOX Sports Go app.
In true Husky fashion, No. 4 UConn opened aggressively against Temple as Casey Umstead fed Amelia Iacobucci for the first goal of the day four minutes into the game. BIG EAST Offensive Player of the year Charlotte Veitner followed up with a goal just 30 seconds later to give UConn a 2-0 start.
The Huskies cushioned their lead with the first of three goals from Svea Boker, with the freshman finding the back of the cage off an assist from the right baseline from Antonia Tiedtke.
Staying persistent, Temple broke through the UConn control at 16:33, finding a goal off a penalty corner. On the play Katie Foran connected with Paige Gross to cut the Husky lead to two.
With the score set at 3-1, the Owls kept possession, registering consecutive penalty corners, but it was not enough to slow the Huskies down.
With three minutes left in the first half, UConn’s Amanda Collins scored her first goal of the game, sending the Huskies with a 4-1 advantage at the half.
Coming back from the break, Collins wasted no time in cushioning UConn’s lead with her second goal at 36:41.
The Huskies wrapped up the game with a goal from Amelia Iacobucci and two more goals from Boker to claim an 8-1 victory over the Owls.
With the win, UConn becomes 19-1 overall and advances to the title game for the 23
nd time and will attempt to win its fifth consecutive conference championship.