By Christopher Boulay

CCSU men’s soccer team scored seven goals in the first half and pasted Manchester Community college 8-0 in their final warm-up match before fall.

Aaron Durr opened the scoring in the first half when he headed the ball home off of a corner. Soon after, Connor Smith passed to Robert Cavener, who struck the ball into the top right corner to double the scoreline.

Shortly after, Taylor Morgan, who scored two goals in his debut earlier in the week, struck two of his three goals on the day in less than a minute.

“I think he’s scored a goal every second shot he’s took,” Coach Shaun Green said. “He scored three goals in 40 minutes.”

Smith was on the receiving end of a pass in the box, which he put it by the Cougars’ goalkeeper. Only minutes later, Morgan added his third to leave Manchester completely in the dust, with a score of 7-0 at the half.

“Teams can’t play high defense against us, because they will be punished with [Taylor’s] speed,” Green said.

In the second half, the squad’s bench players were put in, with Joel Diamand making an immediate impact, scoring the final goal of the match on a breakaway.

Though Green is happy that the squad played well during the exhibition matches, he and the team are not jaded regarding their schedule, which starts off difficult when they travel to Vermont next weekend.

“We’re not naïve enough to think that’s going to happen next weekend. We’re playing the America East Champion for the last two years, Vermont; so that’s gonna be a good measure for us,” Green said.

Though Coach Green has stated he doesn’t believe the defense are playing as well as they could be, but still praised the efforts of his back line for helping the team two 180 minutes of scoreless play in their exhibition matches.

“You can’t take away two shutouts in a row,” Green said. “Albeit, the opposition, you still have to do what you have to do.”