FIRST ROYSTER STORY

We'll have much more on this in the days ahead, but wanted to share our first story on the day's tragic events. It's on our web site as well. There's supposed to be a press conference Sunday. I'll have lots of reaction in the next couple of days. It's just starting to pour in now.

By MATT STRAUB
Sports Editor
NEW BRITAIN — Central Connecticut junior defensive lineman Rich Royster was one of two CCSU students killed early Saturday morning in a car accident on the Charter Oak Bridge.
Royster, from Ossining, New York, was a 20-year old psychology major. Also killed was Brittany Mariani, a senior psychology major.
The school made counselors available Saturday night in Kaiser Hall and said in a statement that they would be available throughout the week. Plans for a memorial are being finalized, according to a spokesman.
“I’m sure I speak for the entire campus in saying that we are deeply saddened by this terrible loss of promising young lives and we extend our warmest sympathies to Brittany’s and Rich’s families,” said Mark Warren McLaughlin, Central’s Associate Vice President of Marketing & Communications.
Royster transferred to Central from Iona and spent the last two seasons as a Blue Devil. He played in seven games in 2009, when the Blue Devils won their first-ever outright Northeast Conference championship. He was a bigger contributor in 2010, when Central went 8-3 and finished in a tie for the NEC title, just missing what would have been their first trip to the FCS playoffs. Royster finished the season with 22 tackles in 10 games.
According to the Associated Press, the car Royster and Mariani were driving in collided with a tractor trailer.