Men's Soccer Held Off by Robert Morris, 2-1
Blue Devils unable to overcome two first half goals by the Colonials.
The Central Connecticut men's soccer team surrendered two first half goals and they were unable recover from the deficit as they fell, 2-1, to Robert Morris on Friday afternoon at home. With the loss the Blue Devils fall to 4-8-2 overall and 2-3 in the Northeast Conference. Robert Morris improves to 10-6-1 and 4-1-1 in the league.
Zac Sherman got the Colonials on the board first with a goal in the 33rd minute. A cross into the area found the head of Neco Brett who headed it to Jake Cooper who then nodded it onto Sherman and he ripped a one-time shot into the right side of the net to give the Colonials a 1-0 advantage. The marker was the second of the season for Sherman.
Just five minutes later the Colonials doubled their lead when Brett beat CCSU junior goalkeeper Nick Velleca for his NEC leading 12th goal of the season. Cooper played a perfect long ball up the field to Brett who settled it and fended off two CCSU defenders inside the area before firing a shot past Velleca from eight yards out into the left corner of the goal to make it 2-0 at the 37:02 mark.
The Blue Devils nearly cut the deficit in half in the 58th minute. Senior Freddy Metellus drove hard up the right wing, got free inside the box and slipped a touch pass to classmate Dominic Plant. Plant then sent a curling shot on net, but RMU senior keeper Brenden Alfrey was able to get a fist on it and deflect it just wide.
Central managed to break through in the 67th minute. The Blue Devils earned their fourth corner of the match and made it count. Plant orchestrated the set piece and sent his cross to the far post finding the head of senior Ben Knight. Knight's header went back across the goal to sophomore Ryan Taylor who played the ball in the air with his left foot and deflected it into the back of the net to cut the RMU lead to 2-1, but CCSU was unable to get the equalizer.
Velleca finished with three saves for Central, while Alfery made two for RMU. The Colonials had a 14-5 edge in shots and 7-6 advantage in corner kicks.
The men's soccer team will return to action this Sunday in a NEC soccer doubleheader with the Central women's soccer team on the CCSU Soccer Field. The men will play Saint Francis U at 2 p.m. following an 11 a.m. women's match with Wagner. All of the action can be seen live, for free, on NECFrontRow.com.
