Box Score


NEW BRITAIN, CT—Central Connecticut scored one goal in each half of its women's soccer game against visiting NJIT Friday and the Blue Devils smothered the visitors defensively en route to a 2-0 victory over the Highlanders.
 
Central Connecticut (2-3-1) got a first-half goal from junior Cailynn Harding in the 29th minute and another tally from sophomore Morgan Santoro in 58th minute to account for all the scoring.
 
The goals were the first of the season for both Harding and Santoro. Indeed, Harding's marker was the first of her career.
 
Meanwhile, NJIT(2-6) managed just three total shots, with one, a try in the 87th minute by Rebecca Tustin, on frame.
 
Each team used two goalkeepers, each side changing keepers to open the second half. For CCSU, Nikki Turley started and did not face a shot in 45 minutes of work. Rebecca Lewis came on to finish off the clean sheet and she was a bit more active, seeing three shots by NJIT, one of which required a save.
 
Karen David made her third consecutive start in goal for NJIT and she made four stops to go with the one goal allowed in playing the first half. Samantha Bersett came on at the break and finished with six saves and one goal allowed in her 45 minutes of work. There was one "team save" for a stop by the Highlanders' defense.
 
Overall, Central Connecticut piled up a 29-3 lead in shots. The Blue Devils put 13 shots on goal, with the two getting through for goals. Central also had a 7-2 lead in corner kicks.
 
Harding's first-half goal, which would prove to be all her team would need, was a header off of a corner kick, assisted by Kelly Halligan.
 
NJIT has allowed just 10 goals combined in its first eight games, but four have come off of opponents corner kicks. The Highlanders allowed a corner kick goal in each of their first three losses, but had gone three games without surrendering one before Harding's tally Friday night.
 
The second Blue Devils goal came just shy of 13 minutes into the second half, Santoro finished into an open net off of a feed from Julie Lavoie.
 
NJIT, in a busy part of its 2014 schedule, will get back in action on Sunday at 3 pm, when it visits Rider in Lawrenceville, NJ. The Highlanders are in the midst of a three-games-in-five days run. The defeated Saint Peter's Wednesday night at home, visited Central Connecticut two days later and will head to Rider two days after that.
 
The five-game all-time series with Rider stands at 2-2-1. NJIT prevailed 2-0 when Rider visited Newark last September 15 and the Broncs won in the second overtime, 1-0, after scoring in the 108th minute when the teams played on August 19, 2012 in Lawrenceville.