Men’s Soccer Drops Final Home Match

Andrew DeCapua, Staff Writer

In what was the final home game of their 50th season of varsity competition, the Central Connecticut men’s soccer team suffered a loss to Merrimack with a final score of 6-0 at home on senior night Friday.

The Merrimack Warriors started the scoring with a goal from Stefano Pesenti in the 11th minute. The score was assisted by Tola Showunmi on a cross pass from the left side of the field that Pesenti knocked in for the goal.

Merrimack continued the scoring in the 20th minute with an unassisted goal from outside the box by Marc Torrellas.

Merrimack’s Ghidini Begliardi contributed with goals on both sides of halftime, the first coming on an unassisted goal in the 33rd minute, and his second goal of the night coming off an assist from Pesenti in the 47th minute to start the second half scoring. The Warriors added two more goals in the second half from Tola Showunmi and Kevin Esper, respectively. Showunmi’s goal came off an assist from Alessandro Negri in the 77th minute, and Esper’s goal was assisted by Sebastian Toro in the 87th minute.

Merrimack out-shot the Blue Devils with a total of seventeen shots on goal to two shots on goal for CCSU.

Both of the Blue Devil’s shots on goal came from leading scorer Eddie Yepes, but he failed to tally a goal in the match, ending his goal scoring streak at five games.

The Blue Devils’ goalkeeper Jason Dubrovich recorded nine saves in the match. CCSU struggled to get anything going as the Warriors controlled the time of possession for most of the match.

The match against Merrimack was on senior night for Central. Prior to the match the team honored seniors Yepes and John Wilkins in what was the last home game of their careers as Blue Devils.

“I want them to understand how important it is to be given the opportunity to get a great education and put themselves in the top one percent on the planet,”  said head coach Shaun Green when asked about what he most wanted the seniors to take away from their time spent at CCSU.

The Blue Devils now sit with a 0-13-1 record on the season, and a 0-8 record in Northeast Conference play. Despite what the record may show, the Blue Devils have fought hard all season, and will look to get a win against Sacred Heart University in their final match of the season.

“We’ve got to try to get some players fit, we have a lot of injuries right now, and to keep working on our defensive shape and our defending,” Green said.

The Blue Devils will be concluding their season Sunday,  Nov. 10, at 1 p.m. at Sacred Heart.