VILLANOVA, Pa. - Two second half goals lifted the No. 21 University of Connecticut's soccer team to a 2-1 win over Villanova at the VU Soccer Complex to open BIG EAST Conference play on Friday afternoon.

Villanova used a goal by Anthony Griffith to take a 1-0 lead in the 41st minute, which was the only score until the 66th minute when UConn's Robert Brickley<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/brickley_robert00.html> connected on a penalty kick to tie the game at one. In just over a minute later, junior transfer Alan Ponce<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/ponce_alan00.html> scored his second goal of the season as he took a pass from senior Toni Stahl<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/stahl_toni00.html> and hit it off the post and into the net to put UConn on top. Sophomore Tony Cascio<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/cascio_tony00.html> also earned an assist on the play.

With Ponce's second game-winner of the season, the Huskies improve to 2-1-2 overall on the year, while they open up league play with a victory. Villanova drops to 3-2-1 with the loss and 0-1-0 to begin BIG EAST action.

In the first half, the Huskies stretched their play throughout the field and controlled the ball more aggressively than the Wildcats before Griffith's score minutes before the half time break. Redshirt junior Josh Ford<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/ford_josh00.html> recorded two saves in the first half, while Wildcats' goalkeeper Chris Bresnahan made one stop.

Mike Pezza<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/pezza_mike00.html> had the Huskies' first shot of the game but his attempt from 25-yards out was grabbed by Bresnahan in front of the net. Freshman Carlos Alvarez<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/alvarez_carlos00.html> followed with his first shot of the game, missing wide left of the target. Senior Kwame Watson-Siriboe<http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/conn/sports/m-soccer/mtt/watsonsiriboe_kwame00.html> won some battles in the box, blocking crosses and winning the 50/50 balls to lead the strong defensive effort for the Huskies.

Cascio had a good look at the net in the 56th minute but his ball was blocked and knocked out of bounds by a Wildcat defender. Ford made a great sliding save with 31 minutes left in regulation as Villanova thought they had a scoring opportunity before Ford came out to make the stop.

The Huskies continued to enter the attacking third well throughout today's contest as a number of Huskies earned opportunities for shot attempts.

With the score in Villanova's favor at the start of the second half, a foul call inside the goal box resulted in the Huskies' first penalty kick of the season. The goal was Brickley's first of his career. Ponce became the Huskies' leading goal scorer in 2009 with his go-ahead tally to finish the afternoon's scoring.

Villanova's Kyle McCarthy had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds as he recorded a shot at the 89:39 mark that went wide right of the net.

Ford finished the game with three saves for his second win of the year, while Bresnahan made two for the Wildcats.

The Huskies will play in their fourth road game in 10 days as they travel to Piscataway, N.J. to face Rutgers at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night. UConn will return to Storrs on Friday, Sept. 25 as the Huskies will host No. 13/7 St. John's at Morrone Stadium. The first 500 fans to donate a soccer ball for KICK FOR NICKTM at the St. John's match will receive a pair of complimentary men's soccer tickets to the Huskies' Oct. 14 game against Harvard.