Halligan And Harding Earn NEC Weekly Awards
The duo helped lead CCSU to a 2-0 record in week 4 of NEC women's soccer play.
The Central Connecticut women's soccer team went 2-0 last week in non-conference action defeating NJIT on Friday night and Lehigh on Sunday afternoon. Sophomore Kelly Halligan and senior Cailynn Harding were recognized by the Northeast Conference for their performances on the pitch. Halligan was named the NEC Women's Soccer Player of the Week while Harding was tabbed the NEC Women's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week.
Halligan led the Blue Devils on the weekend accumulating four total points on a goal and two assists. On Friday night against the NJIT Highlanders, Halligan took a corner kick in the 28th minute that found the head of teammate Cailynn Harding to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 advantage, which was all they would need in an eventual 2-0 victory.
On Sunday, Halligan added a goal and an assist to her list for player of the week. Halligan sent a bouncing through ball with perfect pace to find senior Tori Sousa at the 20:08 mark to tie the game at 1-1 against Lehigh. Halligan then took it into her own hands minutes before halftime to give the Blue Devils the lead for good. With less than three minutes to go in the first half, Halligan struck a long range shot from 30 yards out that curled over the Lehigh goalkeeper and into the left side-netting. The goal was the game winner for the Blue Devils and the first game winning goal for Halligan in her career.
Harding, a senior center back, helped the Blue Devil defense hold opponents to just one goal on the week. Harding played a key role both offensively and defensively for CCSU in their 2-0 victory over NJIT on Friday night. Harding recorded the first goal of her career, which was also a game winning goal, when she connected on a header off of a corner kick in the 28th minute to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead. Defensively, she helped lead the CCSU back four and limit the NJIT offense to only three shots in the entire game.
The award for Halligan is her second NEC weekly award in her career as she was tabbed NEC Rookie of the Week once last season. The defensive player of the week award for Harding is the first weekly award in her career.
The Blue Devils will return to action on Friday, Sept. 19 when they host the University of Maine on the CCSU Soccer Field at 7 P.M. Fan's can watch the match live, for free, on NECFrontRow.com.