Men's Soccer Drops NEC Opener in Overtime to St. Francis Brooklyn

The Central Connecticut men's soccer team fell to NEC preseason favorite St. Francis Brooklyn, 1-0, in overtime on Sunday afternoon at the CCSU Soccer Field. SFBK's Vincent Bezencourt scored the game's lone goal off an unassisted effort in the 99th minute.

The loss drops the Blue Devils overall record to 2-6-2 on the year and 0-1 in NEC play. St. Francis Brooklyn improves to 8-1-3 on the season and 1-0-1 in NEC action with the win.

Bezencourt gathered a goal kick from junior keeper Nick Velleca in the center of the field and outran the defense up the left wing and into CCSU's 18-yard box. His low shot with his left foot snuck just past the fingers of a diving Velleca and into the bottom right corner of the net at the 98:26 mark to give the Terriers the dramatic victory.

The teams were locked in an evenly matched contest into overtime with each side having its share of scoring chances. The Blue Devils threatened to score on either side of halftime with some dangerous chances. In the 45th minute, senior Ben Knight had a free kick cleared away that set up a corner kick. On the ensuing corner kick, junior James Randall collected a loose ball behind the defense, but his shot from a tight angle went off the post.

Out of halftime, CCSU forced a save in the 46th minute when sophomore Ryan Taylor slipped a pass to senior Zach Zurita who found himself one-on-one in a tight space with SFBK's Jack Binks, but Zurita's shot was saved by the charging keeper and cleared away.

Velleca kept the game scoreless in the 57th minute when he made a diving save of a shot off a freekick from Harry Odell and the ball was cleared away. Velleca would make a total of six stops in the second half to keep the game scoreless.

Central had one more chance to break the deadlock with under 18 minutes to play when junior James Randall lofted a pass to the far post that found senior Ben Knight. Knight's header from close range forced a save by Binks.

Velleca matched a season-high with nine saves in the loss. Binks made four saves for the Terriers.

The Blue Devils travel to Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, Oct. 17, for a 7:00 p.m. Northeast Conference tilt.