By Andy Hutchison 

FAIRFIELD — A dominant preseason when the Staples High girls soccer team didn’t allow a goal at a late-August jamboree in Newtown is proving to be a precursor of things to come.

The Wreckers continued their shutout prowess once the regular season got underway, blanking each of its first three regular-season opponents.

Staples followed up a 1-0 win over visiting New Canaan on Sept. 3 with a pair of 3-0 road victories — first toppling Brien McMahon of Norwalk on Sept. 5 and then going out of the FCIAC to repeat the feat at Notre Dame-Fairfield of the South-West Conference on Saturday night.

Although starting goalkeeper Sam Henske and backup Evelyn Bory — the latter played the second half against Notre Dame — deserve a fair amount of credit, the defense and, for that matter, the midfielders and forwards also deserve many proverbial pats on the back.

The Wreckers limited Notre Dame to just one shot on target, coming in the final three minutes of the 80-minute contest.

“To get to 77 minutes against a lively team not allowing a shot is tremendous,” said Staples Coach Barry Beattie, whose team thwarted most of Notre Dame’s chances around midfield.

Led by Natalie Chudowsky and Annabel Edwards the Wreckers possessed the ball well and, when Notre Dame gained possession the visitors did a nice job of getting it back and staying composed to keep applying pressure.

The goals all came in the opening half as Riely Gullans, Edwards and Chudowsky all hit the net. Edwards and Katherine Fitzgerald notched assists. Striker Madeline Johnson also contributed to the offense with strong play.

In the season-opening win over New Canaan, Chudowsky scored on a free kick. Against McMahon, Edwards, Alexa Van Aken and Gullans all scored.

Van Aken is a freshman. The Wreckers have gotten significant contributions from other first-year athletes including Addison Talbott and Emily Shiel on defense. The back line has also been anchored by Talbott, Firzgerald and Sadie Katzner.

The defense has gotten involved up top. Staples has threats from all parts of the pitch, not just forwards.

“We have a lot of weapons from different spaces in the field,” Beattie said. “It’s all the way across the field as far as our outer backs. Six, seven, eight of the 11 can go forward and be part of the offense.”

The Wreckers aim to maintain their winning ways when Norwalk High visits at 4 p.m. Tuesday. (Game schedules are subject to change; click for the latest updates.)  

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.