Men's Soccer Loses Regular Season Finale
Blue Devils will play St. Francis Brooklyn on Friday at 4 p.m. in NEC Tournament
The Central Connecticut men's soccer team saw its bid for a perfect record in Northeast Conference play come up short on Sunday, dropping a 4-1 decision to Bryant on the road. With the loss the Blue Devils finish the regular season 9-8-1 overall and 6-1 in NEC play.
The Blue Devils are the #1 seed and will host this week's NEC Men's Soccer Championship on November 15 and 17. On Friday Central will play #4 seed St. Francis Brooklyn at 4 p.m., followed by #2 Saint Francis U and #3 seed Bryant playing at 6:30 p.m.
The Blue Devils are 2-1 against the tournament field in 2013. They lost to Bryant on Sunday, but topped both the Terriers and Red Flash this season. Central topped St. Francis Brooklyn 1-0 at home on Oct. 25. They beat Saint Francis U 1-0 on Nov. 1, also at home.
NEC Men's Soccer Tournament Headquarters
Bryant's Connor Norat scored three goals for the Bulldogs to help Bryant secure a spot in this week's NEC Tournament. His first goal came at 20:04 and gave Bryant a 1-0 lead.
Sophomore Zach Zurita scored just over three minutes later to tie the game 1-1. The goal was the sixth of the season for Zurita.
Norat scored his second goal of the half at 31:22 to give the Bulldogs the lead for good. He scored again in the 68th minute to push the lead to 3-1. A late goal from Brett Larocque made it 4-1.
Junior goalkeeper Josef Abele made four saves in goal for the Blue Devils but fell to 9-4 overall. The loss was the first for Abele since October 2 when he lost at home to Hartford, 2-1. It was his first conference loss of the year, and the first league loss for the Blue Devils.