Central Connecticut women’s lacrosse team could not recover from a slow start against Iona College. The Blue Devils struggled offensively for the second straight game.

CCSU started the game by allowing the Gaels to jump out to an early four-goal lead within the first eight minutes. Central was able to get onto the scoreboard, but soon after, Iona took the lead back out to six goals and the Blue Devils couldn’t recover, losing the game 17-7.

The Gaels and Blue Devils would trade goals and Iona went into the half up by five with the score 10-5 in favor of Iona.

The second half was much of the same for Central as Iona continued their strong offensive showing with the Blue Devils conceding seven goals in the second half. CCSU was outscored 7-2 in the second half.

Head coach, Betsy Vendel said that they need to create more offense and this will start with valuing their possessions.

“Well, it starts with valuing our possessions, it starts with the draw and then it comes down to executing efficiently and waiting to hit our shot,” Vendel said. “We need to take the shot we want to take, not the shot defense gives us.”

Vendel was impressed with the way the team was able to win more draws and get a foothold in the game.

One of the bright spots for Central has been the offensive production from their freshman players. In the game against Iona, freshman Katelyn Parker scored twice and tallied an assist. Parker now has 5 goals in her first college season.

Vendel has always spoken highly of her freshmen players and how versatile they are.

“I said early on that our freshmen class is a very talented class,” Vendel said. “Some of them are rotating into different positions and I am very pleased with their performances so far. I think they need a little more game experience before they all really start becoming a force on the field.”

Junior Emma Sullivan added a goal, an assist and led CCSU with seven shots, while freshman Madison Palumbo scored her first career goal. Also, junior Kaitlyn Rapp scored her 3rd goal of the season, while junior Cooper Cowdin made 8 saves for CCSU.

Despite the poor start to the season, Vendel said that these games are good as it can get them prepared for Northeast Conference play.

“Our goal is set on NEC’s, every game is preparation for those conference games. Every game we play we come away with ways we need to grow as a program as well as finding our strong points and utilizing them in our next competition,” Vendel said. “We are evolving our game with every contest, it challenges us to work harder and smarter every day in practice. And with the underclassmen stepping up and contributing even more, we are becoming well rounded and more versatile.”

The loss to Iona leaves the Blue Devils 0-5 to start the season. This is Central’s worst start to a season in five years.

Central returns home on March 9, as it hosts Radford at 4 p.m. on Arute Field.