The women’s soccer team failed to find its scoring touch Tuesday night at the Soccer-Lacrosse Stadium, losing 1-0 to visiting Central Connecticut State University, suffering its third consecutive loss.

Despite several scoring opportunities throughout the game, the Bulldogs’ (4-4) inability to finish their chances came back to haunt them, with the Blue Devils (8-1-1) scoring the game winner in the 67th minute. The Elis were shutout for the second time in three games.

“It was one of those games where we dominated, and we didn’t finish the chances we had,” captain Lee Anne Jasper ’04 said.

In the 67th minute, Blue Devil forward Kelly Shimmin redirected a cross from the right side, but Eli goal keeper Sarah Walker ’05 made a diving save to her right. Shimmin collected the rebound and slipped a shot past Walker to give Central Connecticut the lead.

“It was a lucky chance, but it was a breakdown,” Jasper said. “We had a defender dive in right in the six-yard box. You can’t do that, it makes a tough situation for the keeper.”

Shimmin was last year’s NEC player of the year.

“It was a great individual goal by Shimmin to win the game and ultimately that was the difference,” Central Connecticut head coach Mick D’Arcy said.

The Blue Devils’ lone goal came shortly after a good scoring opportunity for the Bulldogs in the 57th minute. Jasper lofted a free kick into the box that came to Christina Huang ’07, who failed to convert the play. The near miss was one of several quality chances the Bulldogs had in the game.

Huang, forward Jamie Ortega ’06, and midfielder Laurel Karnes ’06 each had two shots on goal in the game.

“We had some chances in the first half that we could have scored [on], but we didn’t,” head coach Rudy Meredith said. “[If] you keep a team in the game, and they’re a good team, we make one or two mistakes, and we lose the game because we didn’t score.”

Yale outshot Central Connecticut 13-6 in the game. The Blue Devils are unbeaten in their last eight contests.

For Yale, their experimentation with different lineups searching for field chemistry will continue.

“Everybody plays different every game,” Meredith said. “One person plays well this game, then the next day somebody else plays good. I need all 11 players on the field to step up and play well for 90 minutes.”

The Elis only have three days to make adjustments, with an Ivy League matchup against Harvard (3-3-2, 1-0 Ivy) at home on Oct. 4. The Bulldogs are in need of a conference win after a 4-2 loss to nationally ranked No. 20 Princeton (6-0-1, 1-0) on Sept. 27. Yale fell behind Princeton 3-0 before getting on the board.

Defensively against Central Connecticut, the Elis were sound.

April Siuda ’06 helped prevent the Blue Devils from scoring in the 65th minute with a slide tackle in the box to take away a one-on-one breakaway with Walker. But the gamewinner came just two minutes later.

Walker made three saves in he game. Central Connecticut keeper Sabrina Mariani made seven to earn the shutout.

Scoring will be the focus in practice the rest of this week because of the team’s recent offensive struggles.

“We have to find a way to change that,” Meredith said.