After losing their opening home game to Siena this past Wednesday 5-3, CCSU (3-4, 0-0 NEC) defeated Fordham University (3-4) in overtime after an early scare of 2-1.
“We’ve had a tough away schedule. Last game we gave four goals in the second half and we made some changes, but everyone has the time to play and that’s what’s important,” said Captain Robert Cavener.
The game started with kick-off for CCSU who quickly passed the ball to the backline and began a third man release attack on Fordham. CCSU’s centre defender Jared Speeker brought the ball down the middle and passed it Cavener who brought the ball further down the Fordham backline before passing it to the right midfield for Souleymane Sanogo. The midfielder brought the ball down the right and crossed it for the penetrating forward, Eduardo Ortiz, who took a shot on goal that was brilliantly saved by the Fordham goalkeeper.
The break from Fordham came from this attack when their goalkeeper, Phil Ferrantello, punted the ball down the field, behind the midfielders and was picked up by Fordham’s Tim Richardson who managed to control it until he got support from the one of his own midfielders, Andre Seidenthal, who received a through ball from Richardson and put the ball past the goalkeeper. The counterattack goal came just after two minutes into the game and the Rams were up one-nil putting an early pressure on the Blue Devils.
“I think we gotta stop giving early goals and stop digging ourselves outta a hole. They [Fordham University] scored in the worst possible time, early in the game, taking away our steam. But I think we responded well, we scored in the worst possible time for them, before half time, which gave us momentum,” said Coach Green.
The first half of the game went fairly quiet; CCSU kept its original 4-3-3 formation while Fordham adapted a 5-4-1 in order to counter attack the attacking style of CCSU. The Blue Devils had a couple of chances to tie soon after the first goal, but was unable to put it past the net.
Coach Green brought in left back Shawn Buchanan to add depth to the game because CCSU were outshot by Fordham and the players were becoming too impatient. The break came for CCSU when Buchanan brought the ball down the backline from the left and changed places with Joel Diamand by passing the ball towards him and penetrating the backline. Diamand returned the favor with a through ball for Buchanan, who put the ball past the goalkeeper for his first career home goal and a tie game.
In the second half CCSU became more comfortable in the field and passed the ball fluidly from midfield to backline to midfield to striker. They tested the Rams goalkeeper repeatedly gaining five corner kicks in less than 15 minutes. The Blue Devils brought hell to Willow Brook Park.
On minute 60 CCSU’s Terrel Whitting was tackled by a Rams defender after a build play on the right from CCSU. The defender stepped on his ankle with Whitting on the floor holding it in pain. He was subbed out ending the second half uneventfully, signaling the beginning of overtime.
Morale was high for CCSU, who became really comfortable in the second half and were only denied by the excellent game play of the Rams’ keeper. The first half of overtime ended with no goals.
The second half started essentially the same way as the first half of overtime ended: CCSU with most possession. CCSU lacked the precision to put the ball behind the net, and goals went above the post or wide.
Buchanan had a great shot on goal, but was blocked by the Rams goalkeeper. Whitting received the rebound and took the ball behind the post for the win. The team celebrated by running onto the field and jumping on top of the goal scorer.
“It was fantastic; it was important game for us because it’s our last one before the conference games. And coming off two tough loses we’re looking to add leadership into the team and we challenged our captains to stand up; it was their team and it’s their last season,” Coach Green said.
CCSU plays again on Friday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. against Mount St. Mary’s.