Central Connecticut women’s soccer continued their dominance with their third and fourth straight shut-out victories against Long Island University and Merrimack College. They won 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.  Mick D’Arcy is now just one win away from his 200th as head coach.

Against the Sharks, Central opened the scoring just four minutes and 40 seconds into the game thanks to senior Allyson O’Rourke, who scored her fourth goal of the season. Yo Tachibana became the 12th Blue Devil to score this season with her first goal on the year. 

Former Northeast Conference rookie of the year, Roma McLaughlin continued her run of impressive performances and registered three shots on goal, one of which was an acrobatic overhead kick.

Despite the result, D’Arcy thought his team played well but was impressed with how LIU came back into the game.

“Every game is huge, you have to put points on the board,” D’Arcy said. “We got an early goal and then the second but we always knew we’d need the third goal to finish the game off. I thought LIU did a great job at the start of the second half, they pressed us a little bit higher, forced us out of our rhythm. Overall, very happy, we’ll take the shut out with three points.”

With 14 minutes remaining, the Blue Devils were able to get their third goal. Rookie Ashley Wright struck the ball into the net after great wing play from junior Jenna Rae Covello.

As a team, they have conceded just two goals in their last six matches, exemplifying a strong defensive unit lead by vocal captain, senior Shauney Alterisio.

“That’s one of the biggest parts of my game, I’ve always been talking and communicating and I think that’s what brings up the spirit in our team,” Alterisio said.

Last year Alterisio was NEC defensive player of the year, but she said that this can be attributed to how well the team played.

“The defensive player award, I gave it to my other center back and outside backs, we work together and we work our asses off all year round.” 

The Blue Devils came into this year having lost eight seniors, all of whom were instrumental with the team winning the NEC  championship.

“We lost huge players last year, but this year we were able to fill the gaps well and since pre-season, we’ve been grinding.” Alterisio said.

Despite hoisting an impressive 5-0-1 record at home, Central came into the game against Merrimack with a 2-4-3 away record. D’Arcy had always stressed the importance of being able to pick up points away from Central.

“I think it came down to consistency,” D’Arcy said. “Getting the shutouts at home and scoring goals and then the challenge is can you do that on the road and we did, which is the encouraging part.”

The game against Merrimack was a strong team performance from the Blue Devils, with several players contributing.

“Eight different people were on the scoresheet either with goals or assists, so again the load was spread among the team,” D’Arcy said. “The work rate was very good, we shut Merrimack down, they only had one corner that was dangerous, but defensively from the forwards to the goalkeeper, we suffocated them and this is something we are looking to maintain and I know we have enough quality going forward that we can score.”

Merrimack joined the Northeast Conference this year, with today’s match being the first-ever meeting between the Blue Devils and Warriors.

Women’s soccer plays its’ final two home matches starting with Robert Morris on Friday, Oct. 25 at noon. Central will honor its’ seniors in the final home game on Sunday, Oct. 27 against Saint Francis U. at noon.