Central Connecticut’s men’s soccer team played a tight game against Mount St. Mary’s, suffering a tough 2-1 loss and making their overall record 0-10-1 with a Northeast conference record of 0-4.

The Blue Devils started off taking heavy pressure from the opposing attack and conceded the opening goal in the 22^nd minute of the first half. Mount St. Mary’s Jonathan Godette took a shot inside the 18-yard box and teammate Boris Nana Tonzi deflected it enough to get it away from Central’s graduate goalkeeper Carson D’Ambrosio.

Early into the second half, Central grabbed an equalizer when senior Louis Beddouri got onto the end of a freekick from freshman Noah Silverman and placed the ball into the right side of the net.

Beddouri leads the team in goals with four, proving his influence in the attack. The Bordeaux, France native drew praise from head coach Shaun Green.

“He’s got experience, he’s our leader up front, and he’s a very good player. Louis is the type of guy who has shown a lot of leadership for these young kids and he’s going to leave a good legacy, he really is,” Green said.

After the Beddouri goal, the Blue Devils had a burst of energy and were pushing hard for a match winner. Unfortunately for them, MSM was able to get the goal first with Andrew Lasso rebounding a shot and putting it above D’Ambrosio. Despite the goals, D’Ambrosio made five saves to keep the Blue Devils in the match, giving him a total of 43 in the season.

Central kept their pressure heavy on the attack, refusing to go down but would hear the whistle blow before they could find the back of the net.

“I thought we could’ve come back, I thought we had another goal in us. The evidence was pointing to us and we were playing some very good soccer in the second half and when they scored I felt we could’ve penetrated,” Green said of his team’s desire to press forward.

They ended the match with a plentiful 16 shots compared to Mount St. Mary’s eight shots, showing they had the chances to win but were unable to finish them off.

Two players who contributed the most this match were freshmen Noah Silverman and Larson Richards. The majority of plays went through them and they distributed well to create attacking options and space for the team.

Green has high confidence in the two, and all his freshmen, despite not yet obtaining the results they search for.

“It’s called belief without evidence, you can’t see it right now, but we believe in them 100 percent. Just look at the players tonight, they were super,” Green said.

Despite the tough loss, Green believes their first win is near.

“We’re knocking on the door because we can’t get any closer than we are getting right now,” Green stated. “I’m always proud of their efforts, their efforts have been outstanding. When people see our record, it doesn’t reconcile with our performance.”

The Blue Devils look to get their first win of the season and compete for an NEC playoff spot when they travel to Saint Francis (PA), the conference leaders, on Friday, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m.