Men's Soccer Honored With NEC Team Sportsmanship Award
The Northeast Conference announced the Fall Team Sportsmanship Awards for each of the six fall sports on Tuesday with Central Connecticut earning the honor for men's soccerl. The Blue Devils were honored with the award for the fourth time.
The awards were instituted by league Presidents in 2008 and are designed to acknowledge the team in each conference sport that, in the opinion of its peers, most closely demonstrates good sportsmanship based on the NEC Principles of Sportsmanship and Standards of Conduct. Voting is conducted at the conclusion of each season by each team and head coach, who rank teams within the conference based on a set of criteria.
"The NEC has been built on the bedrock principle that teams compete with respect and integrity, and pursue victory with honor," said Noreen Morris, NEC Commissioner. "The teams being recognized by their peers this week stood out from the pack and clearly demonstrated that our actions on the playing field align with our core values. Congratulations to all our Team Sportsmanship honorees!"
The men's soccer team placed third in the NEC standings after closing the season at 3-3-1 and was in the hunt for a NEC championship game berth until the final game of the campaign. CCSU finished with a win percentage of .500 or better for the first time since 2013 and had four All-NEC honorees following the season in its first season under interim head coach David Kelly. Junior Sean Gannon earned All-North Region honors and was among a group of four Blue Devils to earn All-Northeast Conference recognition.