His dreadlocks go to his shoulders, he’s almost 20 years old and he’s only a freshman. When Connecticut needs to score, it looks for freshman forward Steve Sealy.

After losing one All-American and seven seniors to graduation, the outlook wasn’t promising for the Huskies. Head coach Ray Reid needed an answer to his problems. And he found it in the freshman from Trinidad.

Syracuse will have to stop Sealy if it hopes to beat Connecticut at 1 p.m Sunday at Syracuse Soccer Stadium. Sunday’s game will be the Orangemen’s final home contest of the year.

Syracuse players and coaches have refused to comment to The Daily Orange.

Sealy grew up in St. James and attended high school at St. Anthony’s College in Diego Martin. There, he led his team to two secondary school championships. He also played for the Under-23 Trinidad and Tobago national teams.

Sealy is a true freshman even though he will turn 20 in December. Students finish high school at a later age in Trinidad.

Sure, he’s a freshman, but he plays like an upperclassman. He’s the leading scorer on the No. 22 Huskies and has started in all 15 games the team has played. As of Wednesday, Sealy has eight points, which matches Syracuse points leader Illias Calaitzidis. He also has the fourth-highest shot percentage on the Huskies (.103).

‘We recruited Sealy through one of our former players,’ Reid said. ‘They went to the same high school together.’

Along with Sealy, UConn has three other players with international roots. Freshmen Moshe Shalchon and Yuval Ezer were both born in Israel. Reid said past players from Israel advised him to look at Shalchon and Ezer. Huskies’ senior forward Cesar Cuellar was born in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Both Syracuse (3-7-5, 0-4-4 Big East) and Connecticut are coming off big wins Wednesday. The Huskies made quick work of state-rival Hartford, scoring three goals in each half to win, 6-1. The Orangemen blanked Cornell, 4-0, on the same night to earn their first victory in more than a month.

UConn (7-6-2, 4-3-2) is ranked fourth in the Big East and looks to reach the NCAA tournament for the sixth straight year. The Huskies made the Big East championship in 2001 and 2002, losing both contests.

Reid knows that despite SU’s record, facing the Orangemen will not be easy.

‘Syracuse is very well-coached,’ Reid said. ‘They’re especially tough when they have players like (Chris) Aloisi, (Kirk) Johnson and (Chris) Fehrle.’

Syracuse hopes to close out its home schedule with a big win over a highly ranked Big East rival. Sealy and the Huskies will try to make the game one the Orangemen hope to forget.

Even though the Orangemen have a sub-par record, most coaches in the Big East respect SU’s playing ability.

‘Every game in the Big East,’ Reid said, ‘is a war.’

Published on October 23, 2003 at 12:00 pm