Women's Soccer Wins NSCAA Team Academic Award for the Eighth Straight Year

The 2009 Central Connecticut State University women's soccer team finished the season with a 12-7-2 overall record and won the 2009 Northeast Conference regular season championship. But this past week they continued an impressive streak that they have going in the classroom. The Blue Devils earned the NSCAA Team Academic Award for the eighth consecutive year.

"I'm extremely proud of the consistency that that we have shown in our program on the field and in the classroom," head coach Mick D'Arcy said. "For the last eight years we have competed at the NEC soccer championship tournament and at the same time have maintained a standard of excellence in the classroom receiving this award eight straight years."

The criteria for receiving the award is a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

The Blue Devils finished the NEC regular season 9-0-1 in league action and hosted the 2009 NEC Championship. After defeating Long Island in the semifinals, they dropped a 1-0 overtime decision to Monmouth in the championship game.

Central was highly decorated during the 2009 season, led by Player of the Year Leah Blayney and Coach of the Year D'Arcy, who won the award for the fourth time. In all, five Blue Devils earned All-Conference honors in 2009 including Blayney, Karise Hilt and Beth Lloyd who were all named to the first team.