Central Connecticut State University’s women’s soccer team stands as one of the most successful sports programs in the school’s history, boasting 13 Northeast Conference titles, its most recent coming in 2023.

An often-overlooked aspect of the Blue Devils’ success is the role of their Irish coach and players. Mick D’Arcy has coached Central to 11 conference championships since he took the helm in 2000. Since then, 12 players who either came directly from Ireland or have Irish heritage have contributed to the program.

“The Irish connection obviously comes from me knowing them, either from home or players that know them from home,” D’Arcy, 60, said. “Those connections introduce me to players on a regular basis.”

Today, that connection is embodied by current Blue Devils Aoife Horgan and Eve O’Sullivan, both of whom also hail from the island nation. They follow in the footsteps of Irish former players such as Roma McLaughlin (2018–2023), Zoe McGlynn (2019–2023) and Amanda McQuillan (2019–2022).

Horgan, whose older sister Rebecca played soccer with McLaughlin in Ireland, said that her familiarity with some of Central’s players made her decide to play for the Blue Devils.

“Knowing that there were a lot of Irish people here as well, when I was doing my research,” she said, “kind of made it feel like a little home away from home.”

D’Arcy’s Irish roots run deep. Born in Dublin, he later moved to Naas, a suburb south of the capital, and credits his upbringing as the foundation of his soccer journey. His father, Eamonn D’Arcy, a former player and coach, introduced him to the sport early on.

“I grew up in a soccer family,” D’Arcy said. “My dad was a professional soccer player, and he also was the head coach for the Irish women’s national team. So at a very early age, before women’s soccer really had caught on, I was familiar with the women’s game.” 

At 21, D’Arcy came to the United States to attend Methodist University in North Carolina, where he played goalkeeper for the men’s soccer team. From 1996-99, he was an assistant coach for the University of Hartford’s men’s and women’s soccer teams before coming to CCSU. 

O’Sullivan said that having a coach like D’Arcy, who went through a journey similar to that of his Irish players, makes it easier to connect with him and adapt to living in a new country.

“I definitely think he’s like any coach at home, really,” O’Sullivan said. “It was definitely nice coming over to an Irish coach. I think that helped a lot. I think he understands us because he came over when he was young as well, so he definitely relates to us.”

When recruiting players from Ireland, D’Arcy said he looked for those who had experience playing for their national team. 

“Everyone that we’ve brought in from Ireland has represented Ireland at the international level, either with the under-17s, under-19s, or with the full team,” D’Arcy said. “Because it’s that caliber of player, we know they’re a top-end player.”

Since top domestic prospects choose to play for bigger soccer colleges, such as Stanford and Florida State, D’Arcy said that he has opted to recruit international players who have experience playing at the highest level. 

“For CCSU as a school, specifically for our women’s soccer program, we’re not getting the players around the U.S. women’s national team,” D’Arcy said. “They’re going to the power four schools, and so we’re never going to be able to attract them here. But we can bring in other quality players too.”

One of those quality players was Horgan. In 2023, she scored nine goals, had five assists, was named the Northeast Conference Midfielder of the Year and was selected for the All-NEC First Team.

Horgan, a senior majoring in early childhood education, joined the Blue Devils in 2021 and is from a small town called Listowel on Ireland’s southwestern coast. 

She said that she started playing soccer when she was four years old after being inspired by her older sisters, who also played. 

“I’m not sure if I just loved playing soccer or if I just loved being like them,” said Horgan, who credits her Irish heritage for shaping her approach to soccer, which focuses on hard work, determination and team success over personal glory. 

“I think I’m very passionate and I work really hard for the team,” she said. “Everything I do on the field is for the team. It’s not individual work or whatever. Just like passion. I think that’s a very Irish thing. Bringing passion on the field and working your ass off, basically.”

O’Sullivan is the most recent Irish player to join the Blue Devils, arriving in 2022. The junior exercise science major hails from Pallaskenry, a village of about 600 people on Ireland’s west coast. 

O’Sullivan said that after years of competing in her home country, she needed a change of scenery and wanted to play in the U.S. She reached out to Horgan, her former teammate, who connected her with D’Arcy. 

“I just wanted to get out of Ireland. I was just kind of sick of it,” O’Sullivan said. “I heard that Aoife came to America like a year before me, and I had played club with her for a couple of years…So I got in contact with Aoife and she got me in contact with Mick, and then Mick said that he’d take me.”

O’Sullivan, who played in the League of Ireland Women’s Premier Division, Ireland’s top professional women’s soccer league, said that she had to learn and adapt to the regulations of women’s college soccer. 

“College soccer has different rules, with subs and all that,” she said. “At home, you can only make four or five subs in a whole game. You come out, you can’t go back in, whereas here, it’s like in and out, which I find really odd. There’s definitely some rules that I needed to get used to.”

D’Arcy said that all of the Irish players who came to Central and played for four years have graduated. He takes pride in the fact that they don’t only come to play soccer and experience living in the U.S., but also to get an education. 

“One of the things I love about our international players compared to a lot of other places… most of them graduate from here,” D’Arcy said. “It’s not just coming in for a year to play soccer, get a taste of what it’s like to live in America and then go back home. They leave here after four years with their degrees.” 

D’Arcy attributed Central’s inclusive environment and welcoming attitude as the key reasons why international players, not only from Ireland but around the world, have played, and will continue to play for the Blue Devils.

“Everybody that’s come here has really felt welcomed by the CCSU community, not just by the soccer team,” D’Arcy said. “The university has really welcomed and taken in a lot of our international players and made them feel like this is their home away from home. Experiences like that will just encourage more people to come in the future.”