Blue Devils Strike First, But Fall to Sacred Heart at Home

The Central Connecticut men's soccer team scored the first goal, but Sacred Heart University countered with two of their own to defeat the Blue Devils, 2-1, on Friday afternoon at the CCSU Soccer Field. Junior Raphael Guimaraes scored the lone goal for Central off an assist from fellow junior Eddie Floyd.

The Blue Devils got off to an aggressive start, tallying seven shots, to Sacred Heart's one, in the first 15 minutes of the game. In the 27th minute sophomore Connor Smith left the game with an injury and was replaced by Guimaraes. The forward made his mark on the game early just as he has done before for the Blue Devils. The Marlborough, MA native scored less than nine minutes after entering the game when Floyd fed him a long through ball from midfield. Guimaraes took a few dribbles down field, to draw out Pioneer goalkeeper Matt Jones, and finished the ball in the right side netting to put Central up 1-0.

Two minutes later Sacred Heart countered the CCSU scoring when a Pioneer player was taken down in the box and they were awarded a penalty kick. Senior defender David Backman stepped to the line and tied the game when Blue Devil goalkeeper Paul Armstrong guessed the wrong direction on the shot.

In the 41st minute, a Central free kick was cleared long by Sacred Heart, starting a counter attack. Junior Filipe Celikkaya played a ball from midfield up to senior Jason Tessitore, who then finished between a CCSU defender and Armstrong to take the lead for the Pioneers.

The second half saw no scoring for either team and Sacred Heart came away with their first win in Northeast Conference play. Jones finished with six saves for Sacred Heart, while Armstrong recorded four for the Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils are now 6-5-1 on the season and 0-3-0 in NEC action. CCSU will next be hosting Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday October 19 at 12:00 p.m. Sacred Heart improves to 3-5-1 and 1-1-0 in the NEC. The Pioneers will next travel to Quinnipiac on Sunday October 19 for a 12:00 p.m. game.