In what was a rain-soaked match, the Central Connecticut State University women’s soccer team scored three goals to help lift them to a victory over Merrimack College on Thursday, Oct.13 at Arute Field.

With the 3-0 victory, the Blue Devils remain undefeated in the Northeast Conference, 6-0, and have clinched their spot in the postseason.

Despite the wet conditions the Blue Devils came out of the gates on fire and scored their first goal in just 15 seconds. Sophomore defensive player Charlotte Simmons sent a low pass upfield that found sophomore forward Kelly Brady who finished off the play with a goal.

CCSU scored again in the 18^th minute when Simmons attempted a deep shot that bounced off the hands of the Merrimack goalie right to sophomore forward Aoife Horgan who was able to put it in the back of the net for the score.

The Blue Devils’ third and final goal came in the 54^th minute when Brady and junior forward Giavanna Inzerillo combined to assist Horgan for her second goal of the game.

Horgan’s two-goal effort did not go unnoticed by Head Coach Mick D’Arcy who credited her for all her hard work in a post-game interview.

“Aoife has been playing really well lately so we were pleased to see her get two goals tonight as a reward for all of her hard work,” D’Arcy said.

Junior goalkeeper Caitlin Murphy kept up her spectacular play with four saves in the game and recorded her fifth consecutive shutout.

D’Arcy was pleased with how well Murphy and the rest of the team played despite the harsh weather.

“Terrific result tonight on difficult conditions for both teams. It was a massive help to score in the first 15 seconds,” he said. “Merrimack had a really good spell in the first half and Caitlin made a phenomenal save to preserve the lead.”

The Blue Devils are now 8-5 overall with a 6-0 conference record and have clinched a postseason berth. CCSU has won both the NEC regular season and NEC Tournament for the past four years and will look to do the same this season as they sit firmly atop the NEC standings with three games left to play before the postseason.