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2021 Northeast Conference Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll                 1. CCSU (9)                 2. Fairleigh Dickinson (1)                 3. Sacred Heart                 4. Bryant                 5. Saint Francis U (1)                 6. Merrimack                 7. LIU                 8. Howard                 9. Mount St. Mary's                10. St. Francis Brooklyn                11. Wagner                 First place votes in parentheses

 
   
Somerset, NJ -- Central Connecticut has been picked to do something that has been accomplished just once in Northeast Conference women’s soccer history...win a fourth straight conference title.
 
The three-time defending Northeast Conference (NEC) champion Blue Devils were chosen as the overwhelming favorite to repeat, according to the annual preseason poll voted upon by the league’s head coaches.
  
Fairleigh Dickinson was picked second and picked up one first place vote, with Sacred Heart and Bryant rounding out the top four. FDU has been in two of the last four NEC finals and won the title back in 2015. Saint Francis U notched one first place vote and was slotted fifth. In its first year as an NEC associate member, Howard was slotted eighth in the 11-team field.
 
Seven-time NEC Coach of the Year Mick D’Arcy has now led the Blue Devils to nine of the program’s record 11 conference championships. Over the past three seasons in which CCSU has won the NEC title, the team boasts a 22-1-1 record against NEC competition and has won 16 straight matches against conference rivals.
 
CCSU returns four of its six All-NEC first team honorees, including two-time NEC Midfielder of the Year Roma McLaughlin (Donegal, Ireland/Moville Community College). McLaughlin was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America Team for a second consecutive season a year ago and also earned United Soccer Coaches All-North Region First Team honors. The junior finished the 2021 spring campaign ranked second amongst NEC leaders in goals (4) and third in points (10). Also returning for the Blue Devils are NEC Goalkeeper of the Year Amanda McQuillan (Johnstown County Meath, Ireland/Beaufort College), NEC Rookie of the Year Kelly Brady (Tomkins Cove, NY/North Rockland), All-NEC first team senior defender Erica Bardes (Montvale, NJ/Pascaak Hills) and fellow first teamer Zoë McGlynn (Donegal, Ireland/Letterkenny Institute of Technology), a junior midfielder. McQuillan, a junior, led the NEC in shutouts (6), goals against average (0.43) and save percentage (.857) last season, and surrendered zero goals in 540 minutes of action during conference play. Brady led the conference last season with three assists and was second in points (10)) and goals (4). Bardes repeated as a first team NEC selection and defensive anchor, while also providing offensive punch with a goal and three assists. McGlynn contributed a pair of assists to CCSU’s high-powered attack.
 
The 2021 NEC Women's Soccer Tournament will take place at the top seed during the weekend of November 5-7.
 
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 41st season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9), Baltimore (#26), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.