Box Score NEW BRITAIN, CT—Two teams that haven't done a lot of scoring this season got together Wednesday night and the result between NJIT and Central Connecticut was a 0-0 draw after 110 minutes of soccer in non-conference men's action.
The result leaves Central Connecticut with a 2-5-2 record for the season, while visiting NJIT is 3-5-3.
Wednesday's result was the second scoreless tie in the last four games for the Highlanders, who played defending Atlantic 10 Conference champion Fordham to a 0-0 standstill in the Bronx on September 26. In between the Highlanders took a 1-0 loss at LIU Brooklyn and then stunned St. Francis Brooklyn, ranked #22 in the nation coming in, 3-2, last Saturday.
With the exception of that three-goal outburst vs. St. Francis, NJIT has been held scoreless in four of the last five games. However, the Highlanders have played stalwart defense and have two ties and losses of 1-0 and 2-0 in the five-game stretch.
Central Connecticut has had its own difficulties scoring, managing 12 total goals in nine games and five of the goals came on one day in a 5-1 victory over UMass.
On Wednesday night, the offensive statistics were close, with the visiting Highlanders taking a total of 16 shots, six of which were on goal, while Central took 14 shots, putting five on frame. The Blue Devils had an 8-7 edge in corner kicks.
NJIT's junior goalkeeper
Marco Luna, who entered the starting lineup in late September, made five saves against Central Connecticut and lowered his season's goals-against average to 0.83 in six games (five starts).
Central Connecticut used two goalkeepers. Senior Josef Abele started and made two saves in 68:20, while classmate Ben LaVallee came on in the 69th minute and stopped four shots in 41:40.
Despite the lack of goals, neither team appeared content to play for the tie in overtime and both showed a sense of urgency in looking for the elusive golden goal. NJIT, in particular, was quick to restart play when it gained possession on whistles that went against CCSU.
The result was that both teams threatened in each overtime period, with the Highlanders taking six shots in the added 20 minutes, while the Blue Devils took five shots of their own.
Before the extra time,
Joshua Mercer, NJIT's leading goal scorer for the season got off a shot with 12 minutes left in the second half and
Mamadou Guirassy did the same three minutes later, by Central's LaVallee was there for the save each time.
LaVallee later stopped an attempt by Highlander junior
Rickardo Oldham near the end of the first overtime period.
Central Connecticut had two dangerous chances in the last couple of minutes. First, Florismar Cordeiro slipped past the NJIT back line, but his shot went into the side netting. And just 15 seconds from time, CCSU's Ryan Taylor broke free with the ball in the goal area, but Luna, the NJIT keeper, charged out to cut off the angle and Taylor's shot from 12 yards skipped past the goal mouth, wide left.
Both teams will begin play in their respective conferences next, with Central starting Northeast Conference competition, while the Highlanders travel to Atlanta for a 7 pm game Saturday at Georgia State in the Sun Belt Conference opener.
