Central Conn. Travels To Tulsa

Blue Devils Riding High After Harvard Upset

November 27, 2007

By Nick Williams

Who: Central Connecticut at Tulsa
Where: Tulsa, Oklahoma
When: Wednesday, Nov. 28 – 8 p.m.

The Central Connecticut men’s soccer team, which made history Saturday when they became the first men’s program in school history to win a NCAA Tournament game, will travel all the way to Oklahoma to face the sixth-ranked University of Tulsa in the second round Wednesday.

Not surprisingly, this will be the first meeting between the two schools. Tulsa (15-2-2) is well-rested, having earned a bye in the first round of the tournament. The Blue Devils (9-8-3), meanwhile, are riding high after the weekend’s 3-2 first-round upset over No. 15 Harvard – a win that gave the Blue Devils their-first ever win in the big dance and second tournament victory ever for Central Connecticut after the women’s soccer team’s win back in 2003.

The win also improved the Blue Devils to above .500 for the first time this season, no small feat after the team’s horrific 2-8-2 start to the year.

Still, CCSU, which is unbeaten in its last eight games, won the Northeast Conference Championship by defeating Saint Francis (PA), 1-0, to earn the school's first ever men's soccer title and trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Tulsa advanced to the tournament after receiving Conference USA's automatic bid. The Golden Hurricanes captured both the C-USA regular season and tournament titles and haven’t lost in their past 14 matches (12-0-2), including triumphs over No. 4 Creighton, No. 10 South Carolina and tied No. 8 SMU.

Tulsa will be led by senior Todd Goddard who has a team-best 10 goals, and junior Eric DeFreitas who has notched eight goals and eight assists. Senior Dominic Cervi has registered 1620:01 minutes in goal this season, earned 77 saves and has a 1.00 goals-against average.

Goddard and DeFreitas will have their work cut out with a stingy Blue Devil defense that’s allowed just three goals in its past seven games. Led by NEC Defensive Player of the Year David Tyrie, the Blue Devil backline helped sophomore goalkeeper Paul Armstrong post seven shutouts. As a team, Central Connecticut allowed 0.80 goals per match. Armstrong, who’s notched five clean sheets in the past seven games, fashions a 0.62 GAA on the season.

Christopher Brown leads the Blue Devils with five goals, and Yen Klukowski owns four goals and a team-best six assists.

Material from school press releases was used in this report.

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