Riverdale, NY — Manhattan women's soccer returns to the field on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. for a meeting with Central Connecticut. Manhattan will play their fourth road game of the season when the Jaspers head north to New Britain later today.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:
-Manhattan is eyeing their third straight win following victories over LIU and Wagner. The meeting with CCSU will also be Manhattan's third straight versus an NEC opponent.
-In Sunday's 3-0 win vs. Wagner, the Manhattan offense was led by senior forward Sami Derrico who scored 2 goals. Senior Nicolette Caneda scored the other goal against the Seahawks.
-Sophomore goalkeeper Molly Brunk is aiming for her third straight shutout on Wednesday night. Brunk is fresh off of a brilliant week in net for the Jaspers, tallying 2 saves in a 1-0 win at LIU on Thursday and 5 saves in Sunday's 3-0 home-opening win over Wagner. She was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week.
-Julia Nicholas will return to familiar pastures on Wednesday night. The native of Avon, Connecticut was a two-time all state selection out of Northwest Catholic High School. The senior defender has scored 8 goals in her Manhattan career, with her first of 2024 coming in the season-opening loss at Fordham.
-Entering the 2024 season, Manhattan tied for the fourth most returning players in the country. The Jaspers had the same number of returners as Eastern Michigan with 27. The only D1 schools with more returners were Cal Poly (30), Boise State (27), and Wake Forest (27).
-The CCSU Blue Devils have started the season 0-2 after suffering losses vs. Fairfield and at Army West Point. They dropped the season-opening contest versus the Stags by a score of 1-0 before falling at West Point 2-0. Still, CCSU is a perennial power in the NEC led by head coach Mick D'Arcy who is in his 25th season in charge. D'Arcy has taken the Blue Devils to 10 NCAA Tournaments (2002, '03, '04, '05, '08, '14, '18, '19, '21, '23), highlighted by 1-0 opening-round win over Rutgers in 2019 and a 1-0 win over #13 Boston College in 2003. The Blue Devils were picked to win the NEC this season according to the conference's preseason poll.
The action will be streamed live on NEC Front Row and live updates and postgame coverage will be provided from @jasperswsoc and @gojaspers on Instagram and X.
