By Christopher Boulay
CCSU men’s soccer ruined their NEC Tournament hopes this weekend with two gut-wrenching double overtime losses, a 3-2 loss to St. Francis (N.Y.) on Friday, and a 1-0 loss to Long Island University on Sunday.
On Friday, the Blue Devils gave up a goal with 10 seconds remaining after a free kick by Greg Baum from just outside the 18-yard box, that made a last moment dip under the left side of the crossbar.
“The last second, [the ball] just changed. It took everyone by surprise,” Coach Shaun Green said. “I don’t know what to tell you. I thought the team played well. I thought we deserved a share of the points today, if not win.”
St. Francis played a large part of the match down a man, after Tevin Jackson received his second yellow card in the 73rd minute after making a rash tackle. His first was for dissent in the 56th minute.
“[St. Francis] were full of fire. I expected us to have a response to that,” Green said. “When you’re a man down, you have to work hard.”
Though the Blue Devils had a man advantage for over 37 minutes, they were not able to stay separated from a feisty Terriers squad.
Scoring opened in the 27th minute when Terrier Javier Gonzalez headed a Semso Nikocevic corner past CCSU keeper Paul Armstrong.
In the first half, CCSU scored a goal that was immediately disallowed because of a foul by defender Jared Spieker, something that Green did not agree with.
“I thought it was a perfect goal. I didn’t see any foul, I didn’t see any protest from their players, Green said. “It wasn’t like a player went down and started yelling that he was fouled. It was a perfect goal, it should have counted, in my estimation.”
Despite the loss, captain Robert Cavener scored his first goal of the season, off of a penalty kick in the 80th minute, after a St. Francis defender made an obvious takedown in the Terriers’ box.
“Personally, a good game, got a goal, but at the end of the day, not happy about the team,” Cavener said. “We needed a win to keep our hopes alive for the playoffs, but sadly, with 10 seconds to go, we conceded.”
Rafael Guimaraes got the Blue Devils on the board in the 73rd minute, after Armstrong booted the ball into the Terriers’ end and Cavener crossed it in to set up a lovely strike.
Only four minutes after Cavener converted the penalty, another takedown occurred, this time in the Blue Devils box, where St. Francis was awarded a penalty, and converted it to level the score.
“We’re winning 2-1 with 10 minutes left. We’ve got to be able to shut teams out,” Cavener said. “We can’t allow them to get a penalty and let them get back into the game. It’s bad defending.”
Regarding the flood of goals that have gone in during recent games, Coach Green put the onus on the defenders, who have been less than stellar throughout the season.
“We’re making stupid mistakes at the back,” Green said.
Armstrong made eight saves, compared to St. Francis’ Chris Antonino, who made two.
St. Francis outshot the Blue Devils 20-11 and had one more corner kick, 5-4.
The match was card-laden, to say the least. In addition to Jackson’s two cards, Atiba Fraser received a yellow for the Terriers in the 59th minute. St. Francis Head Coach Tom Giovatto was given a yellow for dissent in the 105th minute. For the Blue Devils, Spieker received a yellow card in the 88th minute.
On Sunday, LIU scored with only 47 seconds left in the second overtime, when Josh Maley shot on net, and the ball deflected to Jakeem Johnson, who tallied the winner for the Blackbirds.
Cavener received a yellow card in the 36th minute, and defender Jared Spieker was given a straight red in the 83rd minute for taking part in a scuffle on the pitch.
CCSU was outshot by LIU 26-22. Armstrong made four saves in the loss, while Blackbird Adam Janssen made six saves.
Forward Taylor Morgan missed both matches with knee and ankle problems.
The Blue Devils now sit last in the NEC with four points from seven games, ending any hope to advance to the postseason for the first time since they reached the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament two years ago.
The Blue Devils are in action again Friday at Monmouth. They play their final match of the season at home on Friday, Nov. 6, at 2 p.m.
