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UMass beat Central Connecticut, 3-1, Sunday to advance to the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament. (Source: UMass Athletics) |
While the win continued the strong second-half surge that’s seen the Minutemen (16-7-1) beat Boston College and Boston University in the tournament, the loss ended Central Connecticut's equally magical run in the College Cup. The Blue Devils (10-9-3) hadn’t lost since Oct. 9th, going 8-0-1 in a nine-game stretch.
Just over 10 minutes into the game, the cold, slippery conditions caused the referee to delay the game an hour and 10 minutes. Once play resumed at 1:21 p.m., neither team could do much.
The Minutemen outshot the Blue Devils, 8-2, but both teams were held scoreless. CCSU goalkeeper Paul Armstrong made three saves in net for the visitors and received tremendous support from his defenders.
At the 16:24 mark, Doug Rappaport hit a corner kick to DeSantis who fed Hogan who beat Armstrong with a header, giving the home team the 1-0 lead. The corner was the ninth of the game for the Minutemen.
Hogan's second goal of the game gave the home team a 2-0 lead with 10:20 to play. A third Minutemen goal by Prince Ofosu gave UMass a 3-0 cushion with under four minutes to play.
Klukowski put the Blue Devils on the board just seconds after the Ofosu goal, cutting the lead to 3-1, with just around 3:00 left on the clock. Another late Klukowski attempt was stopped by UMass keeper Zach Simmons with under 2:00 to play.
UMass finished the game with a 21-9 advantage in shots. Armstrong had six saves, while Simmons stopped four shots.
Since starting the season 2-4, the Minutemen have gone 13-3-1 with nine shutouts.
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