It was an interesting week of mixed results for Central Connecticut’s women’s soccer team, checking off each column on their record with a win, a loss and a tie.

For their season opener on Sunday, Aug. 19, they played host to the University of Massachusetts, where they started on a strong foot, shutting out the Minute Women to the tune of a 1-0 victory.

The lone goal in the game was scored by senior forward Danielle Pearse in the 16th minute with an assist from Roma McLaughlin and Brianna Williams.

Head coach Mick D’Arcy was pleased with his midfielder’s ability to create opportunities for the forwards, as the team was able to take 11 shots with four of them on goal.

While D’Arcy was also pleased his team came away with a goal, he was more impressed with the shutout.

“As a coach, you look at the first game, we got a goal, but we also got a shutout,” he said. “It’s tough to get a shutout off a good team like UMass on the very first night, I’m very happy with that.”

Senior goalkeeper Ashley Cavanaugh extended her shutout streak to seven straight games dating back to last season, saving all four shots on goal.

However, it still was not an easy night for the Blue Devils and the Minute Women made a late charge in the final 15 minutes of the game, putting a great deal of pressure on the defense.

“You always expect for them to come for us at the end,” D’Arcy said. “We gambled a little bit and put some pressure on them up top. I thought we held on really well. We didn’t give them any clear-cut opportunities.”

The Blue Devils then traveled to Storrs to take on Connecticut. The team fell to the Huskies by a score of 3-2, squandering an early 2-0 lead.

Tachibana was the star for the Blue Devils, sending a corner kick to Charlotte Maurer, who headed it through the net. She then went on to score a goal of her own on an assist from Emily Hogan.

Despite the early success, the Huskies killed some of Central’s momentum when they netted their first goal with under 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

To make matters worse, the Huskies tied the match in just the third minute of the second half.

“By the time they really got going in the second half, it was all square,” D’Arcy said, but believed his team “did well to go two up and we completed the entire game.”

The Blue Devils returned home on Sunday the 26 to take on Siena, where both teams failed to score in the first half.

D’Arcy felt the pace of the game was much slower than their previous two contests and called both teams “lethargic.”

But Central came out aggressive in the second half, highlighted by Pearse burying a shot in the top right corner of the net, her second goal of the season.

“I think we started to move the ball a bit quicker. The uptick in the tempo helped us in terms of creating opportunities,” D’Arcy said of his team’s improved play.

He also believed one goal would be enough to win with the pace of play, but with just over 11 minutes of play remaining, Saints forward Emily McNelis took a corner kick and headed it past Cavanaugh, tying the score at one.

D’Arcy called it a “silly” goal and expressed disappointment.

Neither team was able to break the deadlock in 20 minutes of extra time, with the game ending in a draw.

Following the team’s first week of play, D’Arcy believes his team’s depth was his greatest takeaway.

“You saw today, I think we played 19 players. That’s pretty deep, and they came in and played well,” he said following the Siena match. “When we have all of our best players on the field again, we’ll be stronger.”

Looking forward, D’Arcy said the priority is to establish a rhythm on offense.

The Blue Devils will take their 1-1-1 record into a home match against Yale before they travel to Temple on Sunday.