Sophomore Tony Cascio scored two second half goals as the University of Connecticut men’s soccer team overpowered Seton Hall 3-1 at the Owen T. Carroll Field on Sunday afternoon.

The BIG EAST contest, which was originally scheduled for Saturday night in South Orange, N.J. was postponed until Sunday due to lightning and thunderstorms in the area.

UConn improves to 10-2-3 on the year and 7-1-1 in the BIG EAST as it pulled away with the 3-1 victory as UConn goalkeeper Josh Ford made six saves on the afternoon.

Despite giving up their first goal in nine contests, the Huskies kept their opponents scoreless for 799:39 since Sept. 20. Today’s goal by the Pirates was the first scored against the Huskies in the month of October.

Less than five minutes into today’s game, Seton Hall started things off with the first shot attempt by Samuel Petrone, but Ford made his first stop of the day to continue his solid year between the posts for the Huskies. After a foul on UConn, the Pirates had another shot attempt, this time by Brayan Martinez in the seventh minute, which was again stopped by Ford, who made another great save to keep the score knotted at zero.

In the 19th minute, the Huskies fought for their first shot as Carlos Alvarez was able to get his foot on the ball but Seton Hall’s Paul McHenry made the stop on the freshman’s attempt.

UConn got on the board first in the opening half on an own goal as a Seton Hall defender inadvertently knocked the ball into his own net at the 25:27 mark to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

Cascio’s first shot on goal was a header in the 23rd minute but it was halted in front of the net by McHenry, for his second save of the game. Cascio and the Huskies continued to attack the Pirates’ defense as the sophomore was able to free himself from two Seton Hall defenders to get a shot off, but his shot attempt in the 32nd minute was grabbed by the Pirates’ goalkeeper.

Seton Hall tied the game at one as Andrew Welker took a pass in the box from Dritan Sela, who passed the ball through the middle of the field to find Welker, whose shot went into the left corner of the net beating a diving Ford.

After going into the break tied 1-1, the Huskies came out in the second half and controlled the tempo of the game as they kept Seton Hall scoreless in the final 45 minutes of play, despite the 13 shots taken by the Pirate attackers.

Cascio put the Huskies up 2-1 in the 55th minute as freshman Stephane DIOP found the sophomore with a pass into the middle of the field as Cascio’s ground shot from about 10 yards out beat McHenry for his 6th goal of the season.

UConn extended its lead to 3-1 as Cascio netted his second goal of the game and his team-leading seventh of the year. Junior Shawn Nicklaw earned the assist on the play as he dribbled the ball into the box and drew McHenry out of the net, then quickly passed the ball to Cascio on his left, who drilled a shot past McHenry to give the Huskies a two-goal lead.

The Huskies continued the pound the ball into Seton Hall territory as Mike Pezza fired a shot in the 69th minute after Cascio’s eighth shot of the afternoon. Both UConn attempts were stopped by McHenry.

Cascio finished the contest with eight shots and two goals. He now leads the UConn program with seven goals and 19 points this season.

On the afternoon, DIOP picked up his fifth assist of the year, while Nicklaw recorded his third. Alvarez, who was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week for the past two consecutive weeks, also earned his team-leading 10th assist of the season on Cascio’s second goal of the game.

The UConn defense also held their own and continued to shut down the Pirates even after allowing its first goal in more than a month. Ford made six saves in today’s league game, including four in the first half, while Seton Hall’s McHenry also recorded six.

UConn will return to Storrs, Conn. on Wednesday, Oct. 28 to face Marquette in the Huskies’ final regular season home game of the year. The mid-week contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. with a Senior Night ceremony taking place prior to the start time.