by Tyler Roaix
While Central students enjoyed time off for spring break, the women’s lacrosse team had four games within eight days, as they looked to turn the tide of early-season struggles.
While the sprint allowed Blue Devils to tally their first victory in 2018, another three-game losing streak brought their season record to 1-6.
Before the Blue Devils took to the road for their spring break road trip, they hosted Hartford on March 6 in their first home game of the year. The Hawks, in their first year as an organized program, proved to be no match for Central, who cruised to a 19-4 win to secure their first win of the year.
For Central, the offensive production was a big shift from previous games. Going into the game against Hartford, the team had combined for just 16 goals in the first three games.
The breakthrough was led by sophomore Megan Szawlowski, who scored seven goals by herself against Hartford. The performance comes as no surprise, as she is coming off of a strong rookie campaign last year, when she scored 30 goals and was named to the All-NEC First Team.
Head coach Princess Livingston was happy to see Szawlowski step up and is excited to see how it translates into the rest of the year.
“I think that she knows, and everyone knows, that she had a great year last year. As far as the future is concerned, she just has to keep working to keep getting better,” Livingston said. “But it’s nice for her to give her confidence here today at home and that will continue to grow as we go back on the road.”
While the spotlight was on Szawlowski, the team as a whole shined. The Blue Devils put 30 shots on goal, more than double Hartford’s 14. Livingston admitted that improving the offensive end has been a focal point, considering the early season struggles.
“Offense is one of those things where it has to groove and the chemistry has to be there. You really spend a lot of time working on chemistry,” Livingston said. “And I think, in those previous three games, while we didn’t put those points on the board, with practicing and watching film, we were able to work out some of those kinks.”
But the success was short-lived for Central, who would go on to lose their three games over spring break.
While the Blue Devils had their share of positive moments, losing to Siena and Stetson by two goals and four goals, respectively, they still had a hard time putting it together for 60 consecutive minutes.
Both losses showed CCSU’s inability to finish games. In the loss to Siena, the Blue Devils actually had a 6-4 lead at the half and were tied 7-7 with 20 minutes left. But they were only able to net one goal the rest of the game. The Stetson game also brought an 8-8 tie with just over 23 minutes to go. But Central was outscored 7-3 the rest of the way to give them their second consecutive loss.
It would only get worse from there, as Central was dominated by Jacksonville on March 14, 19-5, to stretch the skid to three games. Eight different Dolphins scored in the rout, a game in which the Blue Devils were only able to put 12 shots on goal.
The Blue Devils return home for a three-game home stand when they face Hofstra on March 23. They open up conference play at CCSU on April 6 when they host Bryant.