Sousa Leads Blue Devils To NEC Championship Game
Tori Sousa scored two goals to lift the Blue Devils over Wagner in the NEC semifinal game.
Northeast Conference Women's Soccer Player of the Year Tori Sousa and the Central Connecticut women's soccer team defeated Wagner 2-1 in double overtime on Friday in the second semifinal match of the Northeast Conference Tournament. The Blue Devils improve to 10-5-4 overall on the season with the victory and move on to face-off against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday in the championship game.
HIGHLIGHTS AND POST-GAME INTERVIEWS
The goal was the seventh of the season for Sousa and marks her second game-winning goal of the year.
Sousa recorded the match's first goal at the 19:21 mark of the first half to give the Blue Devils the 1-0 lead. She gave the Blue Devils an early advantage after a beautiful curling strike that landed in the top right corner of the goal. A throw in from freshman Brianna Scaldaferri then went to to sophomore midfielder Kelly Halligan who fed Sousa for to the goal. Halligan received the throw in just outside the 18-yard box and fed the ball towards the middle of the field to a charging Sousa who fired the ball past the keeper.
Wagner evened the score 1-1 early in the second half off a header from Johanna Konrad. Teammate Victoria Roda sent in a beautiful cross off her left foot that perfectly found the head of Konrad and went into the bottom left corner of the goal past CCSU sophomore keeper Nicki Turley.
CCSU finished with 14 shots, six of which came in the second overtime period alone. Wagner compiled eight total shots with two in the second overtime period. CCSU held a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal and also held a slight advantage in corner kicks 4-3.
The Blue Devils move on to compete in the 2014 NEC Championship Game against the tournament's top seed and host, Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday afternoon. FDU topped St. Francis U 3-1 in the other semifinal on Friday. The Blue Devils and Knights have never met in the postseason, but the Blue Devils topped FDU 1-0 in New Britain earlier this season.
Sunday will mark the ninth finals appearance for the Blue Devils. CCSU is 7-1 in championship games. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. and fans can watch live, for free, on NECFrontRow.com.
