Blue Devils Complete Unbeaten NEC Season on Sunday with 4-0 Victory Over Robert Morris

Junior Beth Lloyd scored twice and had an assist as the Central Connecticut State University women's soccer team finished the Northeast Conference season unbeaten (9-0-1) with a 4-0 victory at home against Robert Morris on Sunday. Senior Leah Blayney and freshman Erin Egan also added goals for the Blue Devils, as they finish the regular season with an 11-6-2 overall record. Central will host the NEC Tournament beginning on Friday in New Britain.

Central got on the board first on the 10th goal of the season for Lloyd. Junior Abby Graham fed the ball into the box and Lloyd and Blayney executed a perfect give-and-go. Lloyd beat Robert Morris keeper Jessica Olin to the right side of the goal for the 1-0 lead at 20:56.

The Blue Devils narrowly missed scoring their second goal of the first half on a hustle play from freshman Cara Cavallari. She followed the ball into the box and when it was misplayed by the Colonials she shot just wide of the left side of the net. The teams went into halftime with the Blue Devils holding onto the 1-0 lead.

Lloyd scored her second goal at the beginning of the second half to give CCSU the 2-0 edge. She took another pass from Blayney across the box and scored for the 11th time this season.

Blayney got on the board herself minutes later with her 10th goal of the season, pushing the lead to 3-0. She took a give-and-go from sophomore Brittany Jackson, off a pass from Lloyd, and gave Central the three goal lead.

Egan scored her second goal of the season to complete the scoring on the day. She took an assist from junior Lauren Salvia and shot from just outside the box for the fourth and final goal for Central.

Senior goalkeeper Caity Casey made three saves in 73 minutes of play to help lead the Blue Devils to the win. Freshman Jamie Trayer played the final 17 minutes in goal for Central and made three big saves to preserve the shutout.

The Blue Devils will be back in action and will host the 2009 NEC women's soccer championship beginning on Friday. Central will face #4 seed Long Island in the first match of the day at 11:00 a.m. Second seed Monmouth will play third seed Quinnipiac in the second match. The two winners will meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the championship match to determine NEC's automatic qualifier for the 2009 NCAA women's soccer championship.