{"id":49606,"date":"2011-11-04T08:08:19","date_gmt":"2011-11-04T12:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=49606"},"modified":"2011-11-07T10:32:22","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T14:32:22","slug":"field-hockey-is-top-seed-in-big-east-tournament-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/11\/field-hockey-is-top-seed-in-big-east-tournament-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Hockey is Top Seed in Big East Tournament This Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update Nov. 7: The field hockey team will learn Tuesday its seeding, pairing, and location for the NCAA Tournament, following its 3-2 loss to Syracuse on Sunday in the Big East Tournament finals at Syracuse. Anne Jeute \u201914 (CLAS), Rayell Heistand \u201912 (CLAS), Jestine Angelini \u201912 (ED), and Marie Elena Bolles \u201914 (NUR) were each named to the All-Tournament Team.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ali<\/a>
Ali Blankmeyer '12 (CLAS). (Athletic Communications Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even as they look forward to the postseason, seniors Ali Blankmeyer \u201912 (CLAS) and Rayell Heistand \u201912 (CLAS) understand what is expected of the No. 4 Huskies field hockey team as they enter the Big East Tournament as the top seed this weekend in Syracuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time of the year is exciting,\u201d says Blankmeyer, a midfielder\/forward and a four-year starter for Hall of Fame coach Nancy Stevens. \u201cWe played all the teams in the Big East, but we can\u2019t take any team lightly. We\u2019re going to start off with Louisville, and they\u2019re going to want to beat us as bad as Syracuse. We have to go in with an open mind. We\u2019ve got a target on our back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Huskies (16-1, 6-0 Big East) will face the fourth seed, Louisville (10-8, 3-3), at 12:30 p.m., followed by second-seed Syracuse (16-3, 5-1) against third-seed Villanova (8-10, 3-3) at 3 p.m. Both games will be broadcast online at BigEast.tv.<\/p>\n

\"Rayell<\/a>
Rayell Heistand '12 (CLAS). (Athletic Communications Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe try to have a high intensity in practice,\u201d adds Heistand. \u201cWe always think about how hard Syracuse, Louisville, and teams like (No. 2) UNC are working. We want to work harder than them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Huskies outshot their opponents 250-134 during the regular season and have had steady goalkeeping by sophomore Sarah Mansfield \u201914 (CLAS), who posted 7 shutouts, 58 saves, and an 0.87 goals against average in the nets. The Huskies\u2019 only loss came at the hands of Boston College in early September.<\/p>\n

UConn has also converted more penalty corners than its opponents, a factor that Blankmeyer says has been important in helping the team to jump-start its offense early in the game. The Huskies posted a 119-85 advantage on penalty corners this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been coming together offensively,\u201d she says. \u201cOur penalty corners \u2013 which is a huge part of the game \u2013 are stellar. Our conversion rate of scoring on penalty corners is over 50 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jestine<\/a>
Jestine Angelini '12 (ED). (Athletic Communications Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Forward\/midfielder Marie Elena Bolles \u201914 (NUR) and back Jestine Angelini \u201912 (ED) lead the Huskies in scoring, each with 32 points, followed by outstanding freshman forward Chloe Hunnable \u201915 (CLAS), who scored 30 points this season.<\/p>\n

However, Hunnable\u2019s availability this weekend will be a game-time decision, as the freshman is recovering from mononucleosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole team is working together and stepping up more,\u201d says Heistand. \u201cIt\u2019s not like one person makes a difference. Our chemistry on the field is great. We work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blankmeyer says the Huskies enjoy the postseason and use their excitement about it to push them forward during games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of fun at the tournament,\u201d she says. \u201cA lot is on the line so people get more anxious, but hopefully we can take that energy and put it on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louisville is led in scoring by senior midfielder Hayley Turner with 28 points (10 goals, 8 assists) and sophomore forward Elizabeth Vance with 16 points (6,4). Redshirt junior goalkeeper Erin Conrad has 87 saves and a goals against average of 1.42<\/p>\n

When the teams played during the regular season on Oct. 1 at the George J. Sherman Family Sports Complex, the Huskies won 4-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seniors Ali Blankmeyer and Rayell Heistand understand what is expected of the No. 4 Huskies field hockey team as they enter their final Big East Tournament. (Updated Nov. 7.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":47964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-49606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 10:01:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49606"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49680,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49606\/revisions\/49680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/47964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49606"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=49606"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=49606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}