As Northeast Conference play began for the Central Connecticut lacrosse team, the Blue Devils faced off against LIU Brooklyn and Sacred Heart. Despite falling in both contests, Central managed to put together one strong half in each.

Against the Blackbirds, CCSU fell early, taking a 12-4 deficit into halftime. Central was able to come back swinging in the second, outscoring LIU 6-2. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, it wasn’t enough as they fell 14-10.

The 10 goals were the most the team had scored since their March 14 win against Presbyterian.

In defeat, head coach Betsy Vendel said her team wasn’t able to put two strong halves together.

“The first half we let calls and we let silly things get in our heads and that brought us down,” Vendel said. “In the second half we decided to try and turn it around and we outscored them.”

Vendel went on to say that her team’s second-half resurgence came from believing in themselves.

“We have all these opportunities on our offensive end to score, we’re getting turnovers on the defense end, we just have to piece it together,” Vendel said. “We just had to reiterate that we can do this, we are all capable of doing this, every single person on the field was capable.”

Despite the loss, junior Alaigra Usher shined, coming off the bench and scoring three goals on four shots. The hat trick marked her highest goal total of the season.

Vendel was impressed with Usher’s energy and performance against the Blackbirds.

“Alaigra is always just a speedy player, she works incredibly hard and she’s smart,” Vendel said. “I’m definitely glad we had her today, when she gets a fire under her she is unstoppable.”

Outside of just Usher, junior Morgan Sinton put together one of her stronger performances of the season, putting together a hat trick of her own. Like Usher, the three goals marked Sinton’s highest total of the season.

Heading into the second matchup of the week against Sacred Heart, Vendel stressed the importance of putting together two strong halves.

“We have to play a complete 60 minutes and capitalize on all of our opportunities,” Vendel said. “If we get a turnover, picking up those ground balls, if we get down to the offense end, finishing a shot, we just have to finish all of our opportunities.”

Against Sacred Heart, the Blue Devils looked to be capitalizing as they got out to an early 5-2 lead. After some back and forth action, the Pioneers scored with a minute remaining as the team’s held a 6-6  tie into halftime.

From there, it was all Sacred Heart as they outscored the Blue Devils 9-3. Lydia Werlau was a force for the Pioneers, scoring five goals.

For the Blue Devils, Usher and fellow junior Molly Coogan made an impact, scoring two goals apiece. Coogan led the team with five shots on goal.

The Blue Devils will next head to Rhode Island to take on Bryant in NEC play on Apr. 12.