Former CCSU men’s soccer players Paul Armstrong and Eddie Floyd have joined the CCSU Football team, and may play Saturday at St. Francis (Pa.).

According to CCSU Sports Information Director Tom Pincince, the former soccer players are on the squad, and are eligible to play football, even though their soccer eligibility is finished.

“They would be active for the remainder of the season,” Pincince said.

Armstrong, the men’s soccer team’s former goalkeeper, and Floyd, a former defender/midfielder, will add depth to a shaky kicking game for the Blue Devils.

Kicker Joe Izzo is 4-for-5 on kicks this season, but his longest is only a 28-yard field goal. Izzo is also 31-35 on extra points this season.

CCSU can clinch the NEC title outright this Saturday against St. Francis in Loreto, Pa. at noon. A win will put them into the Gridiron Classic against the Pioneer League champion.

By Melissa Traynor

Whether they were fascinated, genuinely interested or angered by his arguments, a large crowd of students assembled around a Christian preacher who spoke today for the greater part of the afternoon.

Jesse Morrell, a speaker from evangelist ministry Open Air Outreach, came to CCSU earlier today to share his interpretations of Christianity, gripping a Bible and the attention of dozens of students. His speech today focused on his beliefs, including his view that homosexuality and premarital sex are immoral. Among other arguments, Morrell also believes that homosexuals “have the right to get AIDS.”

“Morality is living a life of intelligence. Immorality is living a life of unintelligence, when you’re governed by your feelings instead of being governed by your conscience,” Morrell said.

When a student asked if he had feelings, he responded, “I have feelings, but I don’t live to gratify my flesh… I live to please God.”

Morrell said there were three strikes against CCSU as he pulled out a copy of this week’s The Recorder, which features a front-page article about Ron Jeremy’s visit to campus.

“Strike number one,” Morrell said, “you love Ron Jeremy… but you mock the gospel.” He later accused students of focusing on sexual stimulation instead of the gospel, watching too much Music Televison, and being “Jesus-rejectors.”

“The fact that there are atheists on this campus shows that there are truth-neglectors,” Morrell continued.

In open defiance of Morrell’s condemnation of homosexuality, two female students kissed. One of them, a student named Tori Davidson, said that he provoked her by saying she was tainted by BET, or Black Entertainment Television, and that she was frustrated when he claimed that homosexuals were mentally ill.

During his speech and accusations, CCSU students were provoked to yell taunts back at him and many of them openly questioned his logic and right to preach on campus. CCSU graduate and former Student Government Association president Alexander Estrom joined in the verbal fray. Estrom, who is also a youth minister, sought to argue against Morrell’s opinions.

“It’s nice to give my seminary studies a little bit of a work out,” he said. “… Even the devil can quote scripture to serve his purpose, and that’s what we’re looking at here.”

When Morrell accused CCSU students of committing the “sin” of premarital sex, Estrom yelled out, “But where in the Bible does it say that premarital sex is a sin?”

Morrell persisted, even though many of  the students who formed a circle around him yelled out insults and enraged questions. Some even tried to begin a chant to drown him out.

“So far it’s one of the more entertaining things I’ve seen and heard,” said CCSU student Jonathan Pare. “Apparently he’s read the Bible because he knows a little bit of it, but he’s twisting it in ways that it was never meant to be twisted.”

“Apparently he’s saying that homosexuals have three rights – one of them, which is the right to gets AIDS… He has the right to say so because he has the First Amendment right, but it’s just not good.”

While many expressed outrage at Morrell’s preaching, CCSU student Marlon Virtue agreed with his message.

“I think we should all be embracing Jesse, but we are very disrespectful, as on most college campuses that will be disrespectful,” said Virtue.

CCSU’s Associate VP of Marketing and Communications Mark McLaughlin stood by to monitor the situation.

“Think of it as he’s trying to scam the school,” McLaughlin said. “He’s trying to test the limits of freedom of speech.”

This is not the first college visit for Morrell, who has made a career of preaching at public campuses over the last five years.

Less than two weeks ago he was thrown out of the campus at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, a private college, for preaching. According to the area news station WAFF48 News, Morrell said his First Amendment rights were violated and that campus police arrested him for ministering to students. AAMU originally wished to file charges, but let him off with a trespassing violation.

In 2005, Morrell preached in front of bars on Temple Street in New Haven, Conn. According to the New Haven Register, he filed a lawsuit and won a $25,000 out-of-court settlement from the city, alleging that police violated his right to free speech. The settlement, issued in August, 2009, also stipulates that the City of New Haven cannot enforce disorderly conduct laws against Morrell for preaching on public streets.

Alex Jarvis and Edward Gaug contributed to this story.

By Michael Walsh

The growl has never been so vicious.

It’s not a huge secret that Tom Waits’ voice will continue to change as he pushes on through his prolific and now legendary career. But luckily for Waits and his fans, this isn’t really a problem. Whereas most artists would feel the criticism from people telling them to hang it up, a grittier and raspier voice won’t detract from the energy of Waits or the level of enjoyment his fans get from listening to him perform.

And it’s nice to see Waits keep going strong. The man has already put in four studio albums of varying flavor this decade alone and adds to that total with his latest, Glitter & Doom Live, a compilation of the best of the best from his most recent tour.

Designed to sound like a single night with Waits, the album is really a collection of highlights from Waits’ recent tour of the same name. There are 17 tracks selected from 10 cities ranging from Paris to Atlanta. Waits scales through his collection of recordings, but most of the choices on this compilation come from his last four albums. Waits does dig back to his stranger times, bringing back beloved tracks like “Singapore” from the unbeatable Rain Dogs album and “Dirt in the Ground” from Bone Machine, something I was especially glad to hear.

The storytelling in form of song is alive and well in Waits’ eclectic and dazzling style that only he’s able to bring to the table. The actor and musician is a showman, and you can just hear that on the record as the crowd gets involved.

Waits brings rhythmic bluesy songs and ballads with help from the full band behind him. Glitter & Doom Live is something all fans are going to want to hear. It’s another episode in his long, strange career that’s shifted back and forth from musician to actor time and time again.

There’s absolutely nobody else like Tom Waits. With only a few weeks to go until the man turns 60, fans owe themselves the joy of checking in on Waits in this new chapter of his career.

By Christopher Boulay

BRIDGEPORT, CONN. – The CCSU men’s basketball team lost their season opener to Fairfield 67-58, in the inaugural Connecticut 6 Tournament last Thursday.

Vince Rosario and Robbie Ptacek led the way for the Blue Devils (0-1) with 15 points each, but it was not enough to hold off a strong Fairfield (1-0) squad. Rosario and Ptacek were CCSU’s biggest threat from the three-point line going 3-9 and 2-3, respectively.

Shemik Thompson added nine points for the Blue Devils, as well as leading the team in assists, with four.

“We played hard, we just got killed down low,” Thompson said.

CCSU never led during the game, and the closest the team was to taking the lead was a one-point deficit midway through the first half.

Without the team’s talisman, Ken Horton, who is out for the year with a hip injury and is redshirted, the Blue Devils needed a big game from Thompson. With 6:56 left in the first half, Thompson had recorded two fouls, which made him sit for the rest of the half. This was a huge blow to CCSU, as they were never able to recover.

“It wasn’t a good foul, I shouldn’t have fouled him.” Thompson said.

The Blue Devils were down 26-24 at the point of Thompson’s foul, but by halftime, the Stags went on a 14-6 run, making the comeback in the second half a daunting task against a much bigger Fairfield team.

The Blue Devils trailed 40-30 at halftime, and also missed David Simmons’ presence, as he was not able to play due to bronchitis. Thompson was not completely healthy because of the same illness, but was able to contribute for 29 minutes.

While CCSU did outscore Fairfield in fast break points, eight to six, the Blue Devils missed many opportunities throughout the game to finish on the fast break, one of the main reasons the team had trouble trying to come back in the second half.

Regarding the fast break miscues, Coach Howie Dickenmann believed that there were many shots that the team should have made, but just didn’t go their way.

“I don’t know, maybe. Perhaps,” Dickenmann said. “We didn’t finish some shots that we could have made, didn’t, and looked like we were gonna make those shots.”

The Blue Devils were out-rebounded 36-22 by the Stags, another gulf in the stat sheet that led to the loss. Height has been a large criticism of the basketball team entering the season opener, as Joe Efese is the tallest active player, at six-feet six-inches.

“We don’t have a lot of height, but it’s not an excuse. We have some heart, and we have to display it more,” Dickenmann said. “We need to be tenacious when it comes to rebounding. We have the players develop the attitude that nobody is going to get that ball but me.”

Anthony Johnson led the way for the Stags, scoring 18 points and nine rebounds. Derek Needham added 14 points and four rebounds for Fairfield.

CCSU had many problems scoring throughout the game, with a field goal percentage of only 38.6.

The Blue Devils were destroyed in the paint by the Stags, as they were outscored 42-16.

The tournament will move from the Arena at Harbor Yard to the Mohegan Sun Arena for next year.

The Blue Devils’ losing streak continued as they were defeated by Savannah State Monday night.

CCSU is on the road for five more games before returning home Dec. 12 to host University of New York at Albany.

By Don Weber

Battle Studies is the new studio album produced by John Mayer and fellow musician Steve Jordan. It is roughly forty-five minutes long and has twelve tracks. This album is true to Mayer, but features some added help.

For the majority of the album, tracks contain softly whispered lyrics being pulled out of, possibly, the cat’s hat. There are very basic lines and rhymes to the whimsical guitar plucking as often heard by Mayer. The album would excel in a coffeehouse, and you’ll probably hear a track the next time you buy a tall or grande anything.

Interestingly enough, Mayer gets some unique credentials to help him out. Other than the likely unknown Steve Jordan, Taylor Swift offers some vocal support to one of the tracks. Mayer also pulls out some covers to “Crossroads,” originally done by Robert Johnson, and “I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen. Both samples are a good catch to hear Mayer’s take on some classic tracks.

Unfortunately like many upsides, there are downsides. Battle Studies just so happens to be one of these scenarios. If you’re attached to Eric Clapton’s track of “Crossroads,” Mayer will really dig into your skin. His version is more similar to the original by Robert Johnson except with his “Starbucks soft” vocals.

Then there’s the fact that the final track, the cover of “I’m on Fire,” is available as a pre-order iTunes deal. It’s good, but the fact that iTunes has dug into another album opportunity is somewhat frustrating. Even though many people use iTunes or can find downloads for these songs, it would seem that Uncle Pennybags works for Apple.

Battle Studies is a good album and the original songs are very good. They are true to Mayer’s style so fans won’t be disappointed. He uses a variety of subject matter, even if the song result sounds similar.

If you’re a Mayer fan or you want to hear some covers of classic rock songs that aren’t covered too often, Battle Studies is a good look. It does have vocal support from Taylor Swift on one song, which might make some people go check out that song alone.

Many students have complained that even the simple luxury of hand-picking courses in the paper booklet is helpful and an easy way to make an already frustrating registration process slightly more bearable. It’s possible that a lot of students are old-fashioned and enjoy the easy organization that the paper provides. As far as the registration booklets go, the university’s decision to go paperless could have been solved by a more detailed ebook in the form of a portable display file online. Available to students was a search feature similar to the one used when signing up for courses.

If not for a PDF, CCSU could have at the very least chosen to package all course searches, major guidelines and requirements and actual course selections all in the same area of the Web site, but as it stands, these components are pretty far spread out.

The Web site is already troubling at best to navigate through, whether students are looking for their classes’ undergraduate major handbook or for their degree evaluations. It’s possible that students may not even know these tools are on the Website.

And then there are the perpetual disappointments of class scheduling conflicts and pre-requisites. For example, the communication department’s digital film and TV production I class, better known as COMM 330, actually has no prerequisites, however, students were barred from enrolling in the class if they were other than declared communication, pre-communications or graphics/information design majors. The course is necessary for the cinema studies minor, however, this hurdle would keep those students from enrolling properly. Cinema studies minors who don’t have the “correctly” designated major found themselves getting confusing program restriction errors on their day of registration.

These small nuisances could potentially turn into larger problems once students are locked out of courses they need. To fix this problem, overrides are required, which would waste time and energy on the part of both the students and departments. While it may be a stretch to say that these scheduling issues delay student graduation directly, they can also very easily escalate in tangled messes of signatures and unnecessary permissions. One or two courses delayed will not amount to huge losses, but when they are pushed back indefinitely and require substitutes, something went wrong.

It is no secret that the registration process if far from perfect, but there are plainly smart decisions missed here. Decisions like forgoing a printed registration booklet may not have initially seemed harmful, but in the end aggravated students who were looking for that one constant piece of the registration process they could rely on.

Conversely, a university of more than 12,000 students is going to struggle through any registration revision ideas, but it’s worth an attempt.

By Christopher Boulay

Leah Blayney was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Year, capping off her spectacular three years with the CCSU women’s soccer team.

Though Blayney received the award in addition to her being elected to the NEC All-Tournament team, she refuses to take all the credit.

“It’s always good to receive recognition like that,” she said. “The award means a lot, but everyone on my team has contributed, and I think that’s been the highlight of this year. Even though that we did lose Sunday, the kind of team we are, the friendships we have and the strength we had, are the best award.”

In her three-year career at CCSU, Blayney scored 21 goals and had 20 assists, including 11 goals and 13 assists this season. When she heard these numbers, she smiled and made a comment that sums up her view of a team effort on the pitch.

“Again, 21 goals, someone has to pass me the ball, 20 assists, somebody’s scoring. It’s part of the team,” Blayney said.

Blayney has done everything while a part of the squad at CCSU. Other than the previously mentioned awards, she also was named first team All-New England in her sophomore season, her first with the Blue Devils. Blayney played in every game while she was at CCSU.

“When I was a sophomore and I was playing, I didn’t really understand the concept of a lot of [new players] come in and don’t start. I didn’t really experience that,” she said. “In my senior year, I got a better grasp on that. Actually, I was very fortunate to start every single game in college. It is something I wasn’t aware of up until my junior and senior season.”

The midfielder started her playing days in the United States at Auburn University in Alabama, but after her freshman year transferred to CCSU to continue her career. Regarding the move, which put her even further from her hometown of Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia; Blayney was at first a little rocked by the distance, which is 10,054 miles away.

“It was a little daunting, but I have been fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of good people and made a lot of really good friends throughout the process, that helped me out, because not every time is a high. It was definitely a transition, but I think I got a hold of it now.”

Despite the loss to Monmouth in the NEC Championship, the team still went 10-0-1 in the conference, and it is definite that the team had a great season.

“I think the saddest thing is that the morale of the team right now and the talent that we have, it would have been nice to have another year playing on with all of the girls.”

Blayney also praised her teammates and crdited them for making her the player she is today.

“It’s been an exceptional experience. The players around me have helped me grow as a player, and I’ve taken some of their strengths and put it into my game. I think that I’ve also rubbed off on them and they can take some of my strengths and put it into their game.”

The five-foot four inch midfielder has certainly made her mark at CCSU, something that will be remembered by the school and soccer fans alike.

Blayney said, “Its a legacy I am proud to leave. I guess it leaves a benchmark for other people to aspire to. I’m definitely honored to leave that kind of legacy behind.”

Regardless of the way the season ended, Blayney is very happy with her stay at CCSU, and is happy that she had the opportunity.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here at CCSU,” Blayney said. “I’m definitely sad to have my season over right now, however I plan to continue to be involved in the program during the spring, and I hope that I can be around next fall semester and going to a bunch of the girls’ games, standing on the other side of the fence obviously this time.”

Women’s Soccer coach Mick D’Arcy is very happy with Blayney’s play and believes that she made great strides in her time here.

“Leah is someone who we take great pride in because over the course of her career she has become a much better player. She certainly came in with a lot of talent,” D’Arcy said. “Even if you look at the period from a statistical point of view, with the goals and assists she got this year, she got more than she got in her sophomore and junior year combined. She’s become a complete player.”

D’Arcy also praised her team-first attitude, something that is evident after only spending a short time speaking with her.

“I think she’s become a better teammate, and she has learned how to make the other players around her better. We have challenged her and pushed her and she’s risen to those challenges. I am proud of where she’s come in the space of three years,” he said.

By Brittany Burke

In Monday’s season home opener, the CCSU women’s Basketball team could not seem to fbnd the spark that they needed to come away with a win against the Holy Cross Crusaders.

It was a tough first half for the lady Blue Devils, who started to forge a comeback in the second half, but fell short, ending the game at 55-50.

The Blue Devils (0-2) were coming into Monday’s game hoping for their first win of the season against the Crusaders (1-1) as well as a chance to claim only their second win in a nine-game history versus Holy Cross. CCSU and Holy Cross haven’t played each other since the 1999-2000 season but the Blue Devils have not won against the Crusaders since the 1993-94 basketball season.

The Blue Devils had a rough first twenty minutes, being out-played and outscored by the Holy Cross Crusaders, 34-20. The CCSU Blue Devils began the game strongly with Leanne Crockett sinking a three-pointer, but once the lead changed, there was no coming back.

“We need to find a spark in the first half. I think that’s been our biggest problem in both games (losses against Holy Cross and the University of Maine) which is not good for our team,” said junior forward Leanne Crockett, who was the CCSU points leader with 17 points and 16 rebounds. “Our shooting percentage is way down in the first half, and we have to play a whole 40 minute game and not just 20 minutes.”

CCSU allowed for triple the amount of steals by Holy Cross than they themselves got and had 14 turnovers in the first half versus the Crusader’s five. Defensively, the Blue Devils needed to step up their game in order to have any chance of a late game comeback.

That defensive spark may just come from sophomore guard Alexzandria Dowdy. “I’m the defensive spark. That’s my plan, that’s my goal on this team,” said Dowdy.

While she is the shortest girl on the team, standing at five-foot-one, she packed a lot of punch, getting a total of four rebounds and two points in Wednesday night’s loss.

“I think Alex Dowdy was kind of a spark for us. She came in with Shontice [Simmons] and it gave us a little dimension where we can penetrate. Alex is small but she is quick getting to the rebounds,” said third-year head coach Beryl Piper.

“We need to pick it up more on defense, that’ll be our key to winning the game,” said Dowdy.

The Blue Devils did come out in the second half with the spark they had been missing offensively and defensively. The defense was able to force more turnovers by the Crusader players and CCSU outshot Holy Cross scoring 30 points to their 21.

The team did in fact have a chance to tie the game or pull ahead with under five minutes left to play, but couldn’t capitalize on all their opportunities. With 3:33 left to play CCSU was down by two, (48-46) but allowed for Holy Cross to have two free throw attempts (an area of the game they continually succeeded in making 18-21) which expanded their lead (53-46).

“We didn’t run off too well and made some poor decisions down the wire, which could’ve made the difference of us really winning that game,” said Coach Piper.

While CCSU has begun their 2009-10 season with a two game losing streak they are aware that they need to begin and end the game at full speed to have a shot at a successful post season.

“They know they’re better than that,” said Coach Piper of her team. “So they’re disappointed, and they know they gave up a great opportunity tonight.”

The Blue Devils have another shot at a home win on Wednesday Nov. 18 against Fordham at 7 p.m.

Mother Turned Activist

By Matt Kiernan and Melissa Traynor

Peace and social justice activist Cindy Sheehan, mother of slain U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, spoke Monday about her path since his death and the impact of individuals against war.

“I know for sure that if I don’t try to make a difference, I won’t make a difference,” said Sheehan.

Her son Casey was killed in action in Sadr City Baghdad in the Iraq War on April 4, 2004. Her grief was expounded by the fact that he was fighting and killed in a war that she did not agree with.

A few weeks later, after she saw former President George W. Bush on television, proclaiming that troops were dying for a noble cause, it inspired Sheehan to take action.

“I used to promise him, ‘you’ll never go to war,’” Sheehan said.

She decided to go to Crawford, Texas, where Bush’s vacation ranch was located, and sit outside his home with six others and established her station as “Camp Casey” in order to protest and demand that she get an appointment with the President. She wanted to know exactly which noble cause he had spoken of earlier.

“He’s our employee and we need to give him a performance evaluation,” Sheehan recalled thinking.

She didn’t know that sitting in the middle of a road with lawn chairs, an ice chest full of water and one flashlight would prompt thousands of people across America to join her.

“We never know when some single, simple act will turn into something big,” said Sheehan.

Her inboxes filled with thousands of e-mails from supporters and 15,000 people later, Sheehan was looking at a huge demonstration.

She felt that she needed to make her son’s death mean something and make an attempt at saving other people’s lives.

“I haven’t made the difference I want to make yet, though,” said Sheehan in reference to her wanting all troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Movement Rolls On

With the last five years behind her, when Sheehan grieved for her son, protested and ran for Speaker of the House, Sheehan is evaluating the current situation and what can be done for the future.

A panel discussion of five, including Sheehan and moderated by former Connecticut State Legislature representative William Dyson, was held Monday to discuss that status of the anti-war movement in America. Panelists from around CCSU and the community remarked on the languishing morale of the troops, motivation of anti-war activists and their own firm beliefs against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jeff Bartos, a former U.S. Army Sergeant and current CCSU student, said the way in which the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are being fought is cowardly.

“You want to talk about courage?” Bartos asked. “It’s not courageous for people to walk around in a country you don’t belong in with full armor, weapons and armored vehicles and telling people ‘we are here to liberate you from yourselves.’”

Much of the discussion was centered upon existing problems with the anti-war movement and the drawn-out Sheehan pointed out that here have been no major anti-war demonstrations on Washington since President Barack Obama’s election. She said when Democrats began rallying for Obama, the anti-war movement ended.

Sheehan said the elected Democrats aren’t carrying out what they were put in office to do and accused them of ignoring their base.

Bartos added that the situation of the troops only exacerbates the problem.

“I’d say morale is at a pretty low point in the U.S. military,” Bartos said. Other criticisms of the U.S. military’s handling of troops and returned veterans include lack of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric problems.

Sheehan also said that the mainstream media now label anti-war activists with what she calls “dangerous rhetoric.” She said that the media are now beginning to call on sources that suggest a loss for the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq would be due to Americans’ lack of support, or blaming activists.

“We’re already starting to be painted with this brush of failure,” Sheehan said, and added that Americans against the war who speak out are labeled as “radicals.”

Looking for ways to improve turnout and effectiveness of anti-war demonstrations and grassroots organizations, Marissa Janczewska, a CCSU student and leader at the campus’ Youth for Socialist Action spoke on behalf of students.

She made comparisons to the movements to end the Vietnam War, when she said student protest were influential enough to help end the war. She cited the Kent State incident during which four students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard. Janczewska said that universities across America responded.

“After Kent, schools shut down and became anti-war machines,” Janczewska said.

CCSU political science professor Ghassan E. El-Eid recommended that student educate themselves and “become activists for knowledge.”

Panelists also discussed the impact of an apathetic population who will be difficult to move and motivate. Sheehan and El-Eid affirmed that the United States is a sleeping giant, relatively unaffected by the wars. They argued that in order to stimulate people into action, a measure similar to the draft installed in the war against Vietnam in the late 1960s. By avoiding a draft, which in turn would provoke public outrage, they believe, American leaders could further wars without direct objection by the people.

Panelist Stephen Vincent Kobasa, journalist and political activist, said that one of the misconceptions about the anti-war movement is that people initially believe the war is wrong, which is not true. He argues that even if they reached the mutual consensus against the war, it doesn’t mean they have the power to change it.

“Prodding people into a shared sense of brotherhood and sisterhood is difficult,” he said.

CCSU women’s soccer coach Mick D’Arcy has been awarded with the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year award, his fourth ever, and first since 2005.

“I’m a great believer that ‘to the victor, go the spoils,’” D’Arcy said. “And usually at the end of the regular season when the coaches are voting, my vote will usually go to whichever coach has won the regular season, or one that has had a massive improvement from the year before. But I think it is one of those awards that goes to the coach of the team that won the league.”

Though Coach D’Arcy is happy with the award, he directs the credit given to him, to his team, whom he believes did the hard work.

“It’s nice. It’s an honor to be recognized by your peers. It sounds like a cliché, but it really is a recognition of what the team has done,” said D’Arcy.

CCSU had a rough start to the season including a five-game losing streak. But they were able to rebound and surge through the NEC regular season, getting up to first place with a dominant late-season showing.

“I think it takes a little time to absorb and look at the bigger picture,” D’Arcy said. “Overall I think when we look back at it, we will say the team certainly overcame a lot of hurdles. Not only were we winning games, but anybody that came to see us in the last month was pretty excited to see the kind of soccer we were playing, it was fun, it was attractive.”

The Ireland native is the Women’s soccer programs winningest coach and helped the team finish 10-0-1 in the NEC, as well as an appearance in the NEC Tournament Championship game, where the Blue Devils lost in overtime to Monmouth, 1-0.

“To go unbeaten [in conference] is a great achievement,” D’Arcy said. “Just to be able to say that we beat every team in the conference is a significant thing to do. There’s always gonna be days where someone isn’t feeling well, the chances don’t go your way, or a couple of referee’s calls you don’t get, where you are likely to lose a game. To go through all of those games without a loss, I think says a lot for the team.”

This was the eighth-straight time that the team has qualified for the NEC Tournament.