Women's Soccer Downed at Harvard Thursday Night

The Central Connecticut women's soccer team dropped a 3-0 contest at Harvard on Thursday night at Jordan Field. The Blue Devils will be back in action against in-state foe, UConn, on Sunday.

The Blue Devils slip to 0-5 on the season, while Harvard is now 2-1.

The Crimson got on the scoreboard just over 10 minutes into the contest after earning a corner kick. Zayne Matulis sent her corner kick into the area where Margaret Purce volleyed a kick into the net for a 1-0 lead at the 10:10 mark.

Central tried to level the contest with shots on goal on either side of halftime. Junior Alex Zampini put a shot on frame in the closing minutes of the opening period, but it was stopped to keep the score 1-0 at the intermission. Coming out of the break, Harvard made a goalkeeper change and sophomore Danielle Pearse tested her right away with a shot on goal at the 49:25 mark.

Harvard added to its lead with two goals in the second half. The second goal for the home team came at the 60:34 mark when Rachel Garcia played a ball through for Margaret Purce. Purce fisnished off her second goal of the night with a shot into the lower left corner to make it 2-0.

The Crimson extended the lead on another corner kick in the 78th minute. Leah Mohammadi sent a cross in and Karly Zlatic headed home the goal to make it 3-0 at the 77:42 mark. 

Senior Nicki Turley made seven saves for the Blue Devils, including a stop of a penalty kick in the second half. Pearse had a pair of shots for Central to lead the attack. 

Danielle Etzel and Lizzie Durack combined on the shutout for Harvard, making two and one saves, respectively.

CCSU returns to action on Sunday, Sept. 4, with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff at Connecticut.