Men's Soccer Overwhelms Massachusetts, 5-1

The Central Connecticut men's soccer team opened play at CCSU Soccer Field with a convincing 5-1 victory over Massachusetts on Sunday afternoon. Senior Freddy Metellus notched a pair of goals, while classmate Ben Knight had a goal and two assists to help the Blue Devils improve to 1-1 on the year.

The Blue Devils opened the scoring early with a goal at the 7:52 mark off a corner kick. Sophomore Filosmar Cordeiro sent his kick in and found the head of Knight who nodded home the goal at the far post to make it 1-0.

The Blue Devils extended the lead at the 19:44 mark when sophomore Ryan Taylor slipped a pass from the wing into the front of goal where Metellus tapped home the shot for a 2-0 cushion.

Taylor got a goal of his own just before halftime. Moments after having a goal called back for offsides, Taylor got behind the UMass defense where Knight fed him with a low cross and he tapped it home for a 3-0 lead at the 42:25 mark.

Nick Velleca made one stop in the first half when Rob Cohen took a free kick for UMass from about 25 yards out, but his shot was right into the arms of Velleca.

The Blue Devils padded the lead in the second half when senior Zach Zurita chipped a shot into the area just missing Metellus for the header. Knight was able to chase the loose ball down on the endline and sent a high cross into the area where Metellus finished off his second goal of the day for a 4-0 lead at the 54:41 mark.

UMass was able to get on the board in the 65th minute when Alex DeSantis sent a high cross in from the left wing. Lenoir Seny got a boot on the pass and directed his shot across the goal to make it 4-1 with just over 25 minutes to play.

Central closed out the scoring at the 79:34 mark when Cordeiro fed newcomer Louis Beddouri a pass on the left wing. Beddouri cut into the box and ripped a low shot to the right corner from about 15 yards out to make it 5-1.

CCSU finished with a 16-11 edge in shots and a 7-3 margin in corner kicks. Velleca made a save in each half to finish with two on the day.

The five goals were the most scored by the Blue Devils since October 1, 2008, in a 5-0 home win over Bryant.

Minutemen goalkeeper Bardia Asefnia finished with six saves.

The Blue Devils return to action on Friday, September 11, at 1:00 p.m. when they face New Hampshire at the Peter Baldwin Memorial Classic Presented by Morgan Stanley & The Windjammer, hosted by the University of Vermont.