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THE RECORDER / Wednesday, November 16, 2011 / SPORTS
kenny barto I THE RECORDER
Men’s Soccer Eliminated In NEC Semifinal
CCSU goalie Anthony Occhialini watches the final penalty kick by Monmouth go into the net, effectively ending the Blue Devils’ season. Danny contreras The Recorder
CCSU Men’s Soccer bowed out in the semifinals of the NEC Soccer Tournament to penalty kicks, in part due to the heroics of Monmouth’s keeper, Alex Blackburn, and a misplaced shot from CCSU’s Ben Walsh, putting the Hawks up 4-2. “I thought they were fortunate to get to the penalty kicks and in the end that’s what made the difference,” said a solemn Coach Green following their semifinal match against the Hawks. Coming off a resounding 2-0 win over St. Francis University (NY) in a regular season title clinching game, the Blue Devils looked to make quick work of the Monmouth Hawks as Coach Green did not make any schematic changes. However, as prepared as the Blue Devils appeared the weather and the Monmouth experience played a role in the opening goal. Monmouth’s Derek Luke took a free ball from the midfield and ran down the left before taking a shot from 15-yards out. Thanks to
the wind, the ball curled more than usual in addition to dipping at the last moment, something CCSU keeper Anthony Occhialini could not prepare himself for as the ball went into the back of net. The rest of the half, however, was in control of the Blue Devils who averaged a 60 percent possession rate, with a 75 percent pass rate, higher than in their other games. Monmouth was prepared for the constant onslaught of the CCSU offense, and their defense maintained a high- line to keep strikers Eddy Bogle and Reece Wilson at bay for much of the match. CCSU had their first true chance of the half when Bogle took the ball from Blackburn, who dove when the striker took his shot. The rebound then fell to Nick Cianci who took a late shot caught by Blackburn. The Blue Devils offense was not done. CCSU created the best chance of the half when Alpha Dioubate crossed the ball from the right to Aaron Durr, whose header threatened the goal had it not been for Blackburn who tipped the ball for a corner kick. The first half ended with Monmouth in
the lead. The second half started in the same fashion as the first, with CCSU controlling the ball, and going into an overload in the Monmouth final third. Early in the second, Reece Wilson found himself one-on-one against Blackburn, whose dive to the left tipped the corner kick. Moments later Steven Bailey broke away down the right to take a shot on goal from 10-yards, which was caught by Blackburn. Thomas Obasi threatened the Monmouth defense more than anyone, as the playmaker’s fast footwork allowed him to dribble past three opponents at times. One of his runs created the chance and goal for the Blue Devils. Obasi made a run down the right a little too early and two Monmouth defenders marked him. When he crossed the ball, one of them kicked it out for a corner. The corner, taken by captain Jesse Menzies, met the feet of the other captain, Ognen “Ouggy” Stamenkovic, who drilled it down from the center of the penalty box into the bottom right corner to tie the game at 1-1.
“I thought we played better today than we did the first time around. We possessed the ball well; we passed the ball better around. We created a lot of chances, it’s just that we couldn’t get a foot in front of those chances, and that happens. They’re a very strong, defensive team, who have only conceded 5 goals in their season, and 3 of those goals have come from us. What we’re lacking is that final touch in front of the box,” explained Coach Green. The Blue Devils pushed for the rest of the half for the goal but couldn’t find it, the game going into overtime with FDU watching from the background one of their two future opponents. The overtime play remains the most attacking minded offenses for both sides, with possession splitting down equally at 50 percent for both teams. However, this did not translate well into the score line as neither managed to get the winning goal. The game went onto penalty kicks, the first shoot-out Occhialini has faced in his career at CCSU. The first kick was smartly taken by both teams as they drilled the ball into the right of the goal almost identically; with both keepers diving too low to keep out 1-1. The second kicks were both saved by both keepers in similar fashion as both kickers tried to go for a high ball to the center. Occhialini and Blackburn both held on to the ball. However, both teams’ third went in, matching both teams at 2-2. Then Ben Walsh stepped up to the spot kick to give the Blue Devils the advantage, but his efforts saw the ball go high of the bar, something which the Hawks capitalized on. Their fourth attempt went in giving them a 3-2 advantage. With one more kick deciding the fate of the teams, Monmouth’s Anthony Vasquez scored the final penalty kick to give his team the 4-2 score and win the match for the defending champions. Monmouth went on to win the Championship and the NCAA tournament berth after defeating FDU in the final two days later. “From going to bottom to being cochampions, it’s been fantastic,” said Coach Green. “It’s been done through a lot of work from the players and the coaching staff, and I hope the school takes advantage of this, so we can make the jump into the national stage next season when we bring new players.” The men are official co-champions of the NEC soccer tournament as they finished top of the league with 21 points out of 10 matches.
brittany burke The Recorder
The wind whipped around Arute Field, and for the first time in weeks it wasn’t the football team occupying the turf on a Saturday morning, it was the CCSU men’s lacrosse club. In the first ever Fall Classic Jamboree, the men’s club team brought together seven teams, including CCSU, to play an entire day of the sport the athletes love. It included games from New Paltz University, UConn, Quinnipiac, CCSU, Southern Connecticut, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Rhode Island. “Well we had four games so far this fall, this here is the Fall Classic Jamboree,” said Conrad Meurice. “The biggest point of this tournament for me was to get teams that we’ve never played before to play each other, such as UMass, New Paltz and Connecticut College. We’ve never played them in the history of Central lacrosse and some of the teams here have never played them, so I really just wanted to bring a whole different variety of teams together and get them to play together and get the experience in.” Games began at 9 a.m. and were played throughout the day until 7 p.m. Each game lasted just one
hour, but each school was able to play a minimum of four games in the single tournament. Not only was the all-day event for the teams to congregate in one area, but it was also for the team to get its name out there to the rest of the CCSU campus. “[This jamboree is] to get our team recognized as more of a legitimate team. Previous years they definitely weren’t as legit,” said Meurice. “We also wanted to make ourselves known around Central because not too many people know that we have a men’s lacrosse team and we are a good team so I want people to recognize that.” The day expanded beyond a straight forward tournament. The team was there also selling t-shirts to raise money, had Herb’s Sports Shop from West Hartford there selling their own merchandise and got the CCSU Dance Team involved by performing during the break. The turnout by CCSU students was minimal, but the tournament did help the team figure out what they needed to work on going into future games. The team went 2-2 in the fall, defeating two Southern Connecticut teams, while falling to UConn’s club team. “One team that we played was a bunch of retired pro players
Kenny Barto I THE RECORDER
Lacrosse Club Hosts First Annual ‘Jamboree’
The Lacrosse Jamboree is the first of what the team hopes to become an annual event. and retired [division-I] players, and we lost to them which was understandable, and we also lost to UConn, which is understandable,”
said Meurice. “They’re really good, but we did beat Southern and we beat another men’s league out of Southern Connecticut.”
Saturday’s event was the first for the team, but Meurice hopes to make it an annual event, having it grow more with each season.