The Central Connecticut State University men’s soccer team battled against Northeast Conference rival Long Island University to a 1-1 draw on Sunday, Sept. 24, at CCSU Soccer Field.
The game’s first goal came early in the 12th minute when CCSU defenders failed to clear a cross into the box from LIU’s Ben Assane-Fall, leading to an easy goal for Long Island’s Ethan Homler.
It didn’t take long for the Blue Devils to respond. In the 17th minute, Central was awarded a penalty after a counterattack resulted in sophomore Justin Rivas being fouled inside the box.
Austin Rocke, who scored a penalty in CCSU’s last game against University of Connecticut, was called up to do it again today and nestled the ball into the right corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Being the Blue Devils’ primary penalty kicker, Rocke remained cool, calm, and collected even in the game’s biggest moments.
“I’m always confident taking those [penalties],” Rocke said. “I’ve been taking them for a while since I’ve been here at Central, so I’m always confident and willing to step up and take it, especially to tie the game.”
Despite the goal, the half was dominated by LIU, who, by the end of it, had 65% possession to CCSU’s 35%. LIU had eight total shots, two being on target. CCSU had only two total shots, with both being on goal.
One of Central’s captains, junior Ola Telje, expressed disappointment in the team’s first-half performance and said they played afraid.
“I think the first half was kind of weak,” Telje said. “We looked kind of scared, scared to press, scared to get forward, but in the second half, Coach told us to get back up on our feet and go at them, and that’s what we did.”
CCSU’s performance did pick up significantly in the second half, and the match no longer felt like it was only being played on Central’s side of the field. The Blue Devils started dominating the ball and counter-attacking much more.
While the team may have been ‘scared’ in the first half, Central came out in the second half much more physical. At the end of the first half, CCSU had committed six fouls, but by the end of the game, that number more than doubled to 15.
The physicality coming out of halftime seemed to surprise LIU. However, they were able to adapt, and the game soon turned into a back-and-forth bout in the rain. It would remain this way until the final few minutes. With the pressure on, both sides tried desperately to break the stalemate and score the game-winner.
Frustrated with how the Blue Devils started the game, head coach David Kelly expressed disappointment that they could not carry over the momentum they had built in the second half of their Sept. 19 loss to the UConn.
“I thought we came out and looked a little bit intimidated tonight. Maybe we were a little jittery because it was the first conference game,” Kelly said. “I actually thought we looked really poised and confident against UConn, and I was hoping that would carry over into today, but in the end, the second-half response is what we were looking for.”
The Blue Devils’ next game is at home on Oct. 1 against winless Le Moyne College before playing on the road in their next two matches against Saint Francis University and Sacred Heart University.
