Women's Lacrosse Comes Up Just Short Conference Opener on the Road at Sacred Heart

The Central Connecticut women's lacrosse team dropped its Northeast Conference opener on the road at Sacred Heart on Friday afternoon, 8-7.  The loss puts the Blue Devils at 1-9 overall on the season and 0-1 in NEC action.  The Pioneers move to 3-7 overall on the season and 1-0 in league play.

The Blue Devils will be back in action on Sunday, hosting LIU Brooklyn on Arute Field at 1 p.m.

On Friday the Blue Devils led 3-2 with 6:52 left in the first half on the first goal of the game from senior Marissa Soto.  Freshman Megan Szawlowski scored the first two goals of the game for the Blue Devils to help the Blue Devils build the lead.

The Pioneers answered, however, and scored three straight times before halftime to build a 5-3 lead at the break.

They opened the second half by scoring the first two goals of the half and took a 7-3 lead with 17:21 to play.  Soto's second goal of the game make it 7-4 but the Pioneers responded with a goal to make it 8-4.

That's when the Blue Devil offense came to life.  Senior Jessica Giangarra scored with 12:07 to play to again cut the lead, this time to 8-5.  Then, with 5:43 to play freshman Cameron Ruberti scored her seventh goal of the season to cut the score to 8-6.  Soto's third goal of the game made it 8-7 with 2:29 on the clock.

With under 30 seconds to play a shot from Szawloski hit the post, and with 14 seconds to play another Szawlowski attempt was saved and the Blue Devils were unable to secure the game-tying goal, leading to the 8-7 SHU win.

Sophomore Jackie Branthover finished the game with nine saves to lead the Blue Devil defense.  Soto scored three times and Szawlowski twice, while adding an assist, to lead the offense.

CCSU returns to action on Sunday at home vsd. LIU Brooklyn at 1 p.m.