Women's Soccer Wins Fourth Straight, Shuts Out 6-0 Wagner on Friday Night

The Central Connecticut women's soccer team won its fourth straight game and improved to 8-7 overall and 4-2 in Northeast Conference play with a 6-0 home win over Wagner on Friday night.  Wagner drops to 3-9-3 overall and 0-4-1 in the NEC with the loss.  

The six goals is a season-high for the Blue Devils and the most goals scored in a game since an 8-0 victory over Wagner on Oct. 16, 2009.

The win gives the Blue Devils four wins and 12 points in the NEC standings, joining four other teams with 12 total points.  Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Francis U and Bryant also have 12 points.  The Blue Devils will play a key game at Bryant on Sunday.

The shutout is the fourth straight for the Blue Devils who haven't surrendered a goal since October 1.  They haven't given up a goal in four games, and a total of 405:29.  The Blue Devils have eight shutouts on the season.  Every victory this year has come via the shutout.  Central hasn't given up a goal at home in five straight games, dating back to Sept. 3.

The Blue Devils wasted little time taking a 1-0 lead as they scored the game's first goal just over 15 minutes into the game.  The Blue Devils, who had threatened a couple of times early in the half, took the lead with 29:15 on the clock before halftime.  Senior defender Brianna Scaldaferri took a pass from junior Danielle Pearse a curled a ball into the box that was saved by Wagner keeper Delaney Beck.  The rebound bounced directly to sophomore Yo Tachibana who sent it by Beck to the lower left corner for her second goal of the season and the 1-0 lead.

Central took a 2-0 lead with 19:30 left in the first half on the first goal of the season from senior Laura Casanovas Diaz.  The senior took a pass and chipped the ball over the head of Beck to find the goal and give the Blue Devils the two goal edge. 

Freshman Erica Bardes scored her first career goal to open the second half to make it 3-0.  She took a feed from Casanovas Diaz and beat the keeper to the lower right corner for the three goal lead early in the second period.

Pearse scored her fourth goal of the season to push the lead to 4-0 with 33 minutes left in the second half.  She took a pass from sophomore Emily Hogan and found the back of the net for her team-leading fourth goal of the season.

Hogan scored her first of the season with 28:29 to play in the second half to make it 5-0.  She took a rebound off a shot from senior Kelly Halligan and found the back of the net for the first time this season.  Freshman Brianna Williams took a corner kick from senior Alex Zampini and scored her first career goal with under five minutes to play to make it 6-0.

Junior goalkeeper Ashley Cavanaugh made two saves in the game to combine for the shutout.  She is now 8-6 overall on the year.  Sophomore Hannah Page played the final 14:01 for the Blue Devils in goal.  

The Blue Devils return to action on Sunday at 3 p.m. on the road at Bryant.