Central Connecticut upset fourth-seeded Rutgers 1-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night in Piscataway, NJ.

Junior Erica Bardes lobbed the Scarlett Knights’ goalkeeper deep into regulation to give the Blue Devils their second ever NCAA tournament game victory. Central scored so late into the game that head coach Mick D’Arcy was preparing his bench to get ready for overtime but as it turned out, they did not need the extra minutes.

CCSU had played Rutgers in their first game of the season and narrowly lost in overtime. D’Arcy stressed that the team viewed this game as a chance at redemption after the narrow loss in the previous contest.

“Everyone was on edge the whole time, going in at halftime 0-0 we had hit the post and they had as well but it was back an forth,” D’Arcy said. “They had the ball at the back a little bit more, passing it around the back but we were patient and when they made a mistake we were able to pounce on it.”

D’Arcy said it felt like deja vu when Rutgers was awarded a penalty.

“When they got the penalty with 18 minutes left, which was disappointing because they got a penalty in the last game with 20 minutes left, it felt like that was there opportunity to go and win the game, they didn’t take it,” D’Arcy said. “Once this happened I think the belief in the team grew again that tonight is gonna be ours.”

Sophomore keeper Amanda McQuillan had 10 saves in the net for the Blue Devils.

“Amanda made a fantastic save from a header that went across the box and managed to get a hand to it and push it away. I thought between that and the penalty that they’re not scoring today.”

D’Arcy stressed that due to the close nature of the game, the winner would be the team that took the risk.

“With the goal, it was a case of Erica being brave with the ball. She beats her player around the outside and puts herself in position, lays off another good ball and then the shot goes into the top corner,” D’Arcy said. “People were saying whether it was a cross or a fluke but you’ve seen it all year long, she’s hit the crossbar and then we’ve scored from that.”

D’Arcy told the team going into the game that they deserved to be there and that they had every chance of winning.

“I think you have to be careful going into games like this, there was the euphoria of winning the NEC and now we’re going to the NCAA tournament,” D’Arcy said. “We wanted to go there and win, the message in the locker room beforehand was very much that we are here to win and not make up the numbers and we just kept stressing that we’re here to win, we’re here to win. It was a great opportunity to play a team we had already played, we felt like we were really hard done by in the first game, even though it was back in August it still stung.”

“We never thought we would be going back there but there was no fear from the team,” D’Arcy said. “They’re a legitimate Top 20 team but we knew we could match up with them and we did.”

With the win over Rutgers, the Blue Devils will now play West Virginia. D’Arcy said how good of a team they are, but that CCSU has every chance of winning.

“As confident as we were going into Rutgers, they are a great side with good wins under their belt. West Virginia just beat a very good Georgetown team, they’ve been to the NCAA 20 years in a row,” D’Arcy said. “They’ve been to the Final Four so a great culture there, so we know they’re gonna be a very good side. I think at this stage the girls will start to think that it’s one more team in our way and let’s see what we can do.”