The Central Connecticut State University women’s soccer team tied 1-1 against Howard University on Sunday, Sept 21. The Bison are the defending Northeast Conference champions.
The Blue Devils struck early, with sophomore forward Kayla Ward scoring her first goal of the season just over 10 minutes into the match.
Howard responded in the second half, when forward Gabriella Garcia-Terrell scored to even up the game. Her shot just escaped CCSU junior goalkeeper Melina Ford.
Ford made a season-high eight saves, with seven of those saves being made in the second half. The Bison recorded 16 shots in the game.
CCSU head coach Mick D’Arcy said he expected Ford to bounce back.
“I would expect her to make all of those saves that she made,” he said. “Mentally, she’s strong. She came back from the goal, and the goal certainly wasn’t her fault.”
D’Arcy believed that his team was prepared for the reigning champions.
“I think we were ready for them,” he said. “Interestingly, they played a different shape in the first half than they usually do, and then they switched it to their usual one in the second half, but we were ready for either one of them.”
He said that they missed many chances to get the win.
“We got the goal in the first half and had two more great opportunities to put them away,” he said. “And I guess if you’re playing the champion, you need to knock them out, and we didn’t —we left them in the game.”
He added that he’s pleased with the fight his team has shown so far this season and remains optimistic.
“The glass is half full,” D’Arcy said. “But now, you know, Chicago State — we got to go out there and replicate what we did today and put on another good performance and hope the chances fall for us.”
On Sept. 18, the Blue Devils tied 3-3 with Wagner in their first conference match of the season. The two draws have earned CCSU two points in the NEC standings.
The Blue Devils picked up another point in the conference standings, and the tie against Wagner on Sept. 18 also gave them one point.
The Blue Devils are still searching for their first win of the season. They will host the University of New Haven on Sunday, Sept. 28, at CCSU Soccer Field.
