Central Connecticut’s women’s soccer team played a hard-fought match against Sacred Heart Friday night, winning 1-0 to improve their overall record to 10-1-2 with a Northeast Conference record of 4-0.

The start of the match proved a test of the solidarity of the Blue Devils’ defense, who did well to absorb heavy pressure from SHU and eventually bring the game to the Pioneers.

Head coach Mick D’Arcy was pleased with how his defense held up.

“They closed us down, they put us under a lot of pressure, but we stood up to it,” D’Arcy said. “You’d love to think it’s always going to be lovely soccer being played and it just wasn’t one of those nights, it was a night where we had to dig deep and grind it out and that’s what we did.”

The Blue Devils certainly did so as they halted every attack from their opponents before there was any danger facing their net. Since that transition in pressure, the match flowed in Central’s favor, creating plenty of attacking opportunities.

The closest chance to a goal at the beginning was in the 34th minute when freshman Roma McLaughlin hit a volley that would knock the crossbar and go out. Despite not netting, McLaughlin has been displaying strong performances for the Blue Devils, drawing the praise from her coach.

“She does a lot for us. She wins a lot of balls in the air, she’s very good penetrating off the dribble and taking the ball into the other team’s half, and she wins a lot of tackles as well,” D’Arcy said.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 60^th minute when senior Danielle Pearse found sophomore Tess Atkinson in the right corner of the pitch, who then took a shot on goal that was deflected by an SHU defender, heading it over her own keeper then hitting the bottom side of the crossbar and into the net.

Atkinson’s well-deserved goal marked her second of the season. She has acted as an attacking influence coming off the bench to net her goals. D’Arcy spoke highly of the match-winner.

“Tess ‘Friday Night Lights’ Atkinson is her new name. She loves Friday night games and she loves the atmosphere. She was phenomenal tonight with the work that she put in,” he said. “She closed down, she pressed people, I mean she’s a nightmare for defenders to mark, and she got that goal for herself. I think you make your own luck and she certainly did tonight.”

The Blue Devils were able to hold onto the lead for the remainder of the match, preventing any danger and keeping strong pressure offensively. Central vastly outnumbered the shots on goal, 19-5, representing well who dominated the attack.

On defense, senior goalkeeper Ashley Cavanaugh had another easy match, only needing to record two saves to improve her shutouts to eight total, thanks to strong performances by classmate Shelbie Carr and junior Shauny Alterisio.

“They’re working hard, they’re hungry, they want to get shutouts, and they want to win the game. I think we saw tonight that they dig deep when they have to,” D’Arcy said, of his team’s defense.

D’Arcy shared his confidence in his team’s ability and shared the approach going forward.

“We want to be 5-0. It really is one game at a time. Each one is a puzzle that we have to solve, we know we can adapt, and we have many different ways of playing,” he said.

The Blue Devils are back in action Oct. 12, hosting Bryant at 4 p.m.