
Newcomer Kayleigh Panek (Shelton, Conn.) has bolstered the Colonials. (Western Connecticut State Athletics)
When the Western Connecticut State women’s soccer team takes the field for practice, there’s a banner nearby celebrating the fact that the team made four consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament from 2005 through 2008.
Ten years later, the class of 2019 has an opportunity to equal that impressive feat of appearing in the NCAA tournament for all four years of their careers after reaching the tourney in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
“Last semester, I was in Australia,” senior Aileen Maloney (Trumbull, Conn.) said. “Coming from that to this was difficult to think it was my last year. I just tried to stay focused and realized I wanted to go for four LEC championships and go to the NCAA tournament.”