Central Connecticut State University women's soccer will open up Northeast Conference play Thursday and they're looking to five-peat as NEC champs.
But while this is all old hat for them, for one player, she helped her home country of Ireland make some history just last month.
"To say that I was a part of the team and I was there for the moment we qualified, it was the most amazing feeling," Roma McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin is a CCSU senior on the women's soccer team, but she's also a member of the Republic of Ireland's national team, which just qualified for the Women's World Cup for the first time ever.
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Doing both means planning around classes and missing college games for last minute trips to go to training camps back in Ireland, but it's a double life she'd pick any day.
"I wouldn't have it any other way. I love doing both and I love being able to play," McLaughlin said.
Her teammates are excited she's a part of the team.
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"I mean, she's going to the World Cup. You can't ask for much more than someone to follow by example like that," Victoria Violette said.
"That we have someone who has experienced it firsthand, we're really lucky," Caitlin Murphy said.
"Being at Central the past four years has immensely helped me, like who I am as a person and as a player," McLaughlin said.
