Men's Soccer Drops League Opener to St. Francis Brooklyn, 4-2

The Central Connecticut men's soccer team dropped the Northeast Conference opener to St. Francis Brooklyn, 4-2, on Friday at CCSU Soccer Field. The Blue Devils took a lead in the opening half before the Terriers rallied in the second half for the two-goal win. Central Connecticut hosts Yale in a non-conference match on Monday at 3:00 p.m.

St. Francis opened the scoring just 9:37 into the game after Khaled Abdella took advantage of a misplay in the back by Central and blocked a clearance into the goal for the 1-0 lead. Central would rally with two goals in the opening half. Sophomore Panos Ravanis took a cross from junior Eddie Yepes and settled the ball and volleyed it into the goal to tie the game. CCSU took the lead at the 37:37 mark when Yepes dribbled through traffic and sent a cross to the far post to find junior Dylan Kazmeirowicz, who sent a one-time shot past the keeper to make it 2-1.

The Terriers would rally with two goals by El Mahdi Youssoufi in the second half. He tied the game at 48:07 and would add an insurance goal with just over five minutes to play. Yoann Assoumin converted a penalty-kick with 20 minutes remaining for the game-winning goal.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Central Connecticut 2, St. Francis Brooklyn 4
Records: Central Connecticut (0-5-1, 0-1 NEC), SFBK (5-1-1, 1-0 NEC)
Location: CCSU Soccer Field | New Britain, CT

QUOTE

"I thought this was one of our best performances of the season so far. We played a lot of pressure on their defense, our objective to absolve a lot of their pressure and use the space to counter-attack quickly. I thought we were very effective," said head coach Shaun Green.

KEY MOMENTS

• St. Francis took the early lead, but Central would score twice in the opening period and had the better of the play in the first half. 
• CCSU nearly had a third goal in the first half, but freshman Liam O'Brian had a shot go just over the crossbar.
• The Terriers came out attacking in the second half and tied the game just three minutes into the second half. El Mahdi Youssoufi would tie the game and also add the fourth goal for SFBK. 

NUMBER TO KNOW
2 – Yepes assisted on both CCSU goals and also had a team-high three shots in the game.

NOTES

• CCSU Men's Soccer is celebrating its 50th season of varsity competition in 2019.
• The Blue Devils played their fifth of six straight home games.
• Kazmeirowicz and Ravanis each scored their first goals of the year for Central.
• Sophomore Jason Dubrovich made three saves for CCSU.

UP NEXT
Central Connecticut hosts Yale on Monday in a 3:00 PM kickoff.