Blue Devils Hosting NEC Championship for Fourth Straight Season
The 2021-22 women's soccer Northeast Championship will run through the same place it has for the last four seasons, the Blue Devils' home field of New Britain.
CCSU's win over Long Island University on Sunday clinched homefield advantage for CCSU and locked them in as the one seed in the NEC standings. The Blue Devils will be facing off against the Bryant Bulldogs, the NEC's fourth seed, on Friday at 1 p.m.
HISTORY AGAINST BRYANT
The Blue Devils have faced off against the Bulldogs 13 times and are 8-3-2 all-time against Bryant. The two teams last met on September 30, where the Bulldogs defeated the Blue Devils in a 1-0 shutout.
CCSU and Bryant have never faced off in the NEC Championship before.
GETTING THINGS DONE ON BOTH ENDS
The Blue Devils are leading the conference on both ends of the ball this season. They rank first in the league defensively, allowing less than a goal per game (0.87 opponent goal average) and are the highest scoring offense in the league with 1.56 scores per game.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
CCSU's defense speaks for itself with the numbers. Against other NEC opponents this season, the Blue Devils are shooting the ball at a rate four times that of their opponent. While CCSU averages 20.1 shots per game, opposing teams average 5.1 shots per game.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
The Blue Devils have been a well oiled machine this season and have been on the right side of the whistle more often than not. The Blue Devils have had the fewest amount of fouls called on them with 66 on the year, 24 less than the next team.
McQUILLAN LOCKING THINGS DOWN
Senior goal keeper Amanda McQuillan and the rest of the Blue Devil defense has made things difficult for opposing offenses this season, forcing seven shutouts this year.
SHARING THE ROCK
CCSU's offense has been moving the ball around well this year and the numbers reflect it. The team leads the conference in assists with 17 and have had 13 different Blue Devils score goals this season. Erica Bardes leads the team with five assists, which puts her at second in the conference.
GOING FOR FOUR
The Blue Devils will be looking to win their fourth straight NEC Championship if they advance to Sunday. CCSU also won the title four times in a row from 2002-2005. The program has 11 NEC Championships in total.
LAST SEASON'S RUN
The Blue Devils defeated Long Island University in last year's NEC Championship in a 4-0 shutout. The defense only allowed one shot from LIU. Last season's Tournament was abbreviated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning only one Championship game was played as opposed to the four-seeded bracket that has been the usual set up and will be used this weekend. The Championship victory capped off a perfect season for the Blue Devils, who went undefeated through the six conference game schedule and outscored opponents 15-1.
MAKING NOISE IN THE NCAA
The Blue Devils are far from an "easy out" when they make the NCAA Tournament. The team has won two Tournament games, the most recent being a 1-0 win over Rutgers in 2019. Women's soccer has the most NCAA Tournament wins of any CCSU team. Baseball is second with one win.
