I cannot beleive the results this year so far for the teams in the LEC.

PSU and Dartmouth....both 4-1 but haven't played any strong teams yet.  Except PSU beat Salem State 6-2!?!? Confusing to say the least when they then lose to Keene who should be average at best this year.  Semir for PSU is a dangerous player and I will continue to look for him to lead them in big games.

RIC is 1-4-1 this year when they lost a single starter.  I saw they have sophomore Bruno Costa coming off the bench when last year he was one of thier most dangerous attackers.  Also, look for Ryan Kelly to pick up the slack and start leading this team when most important- league matches.  They lost their freshmen goalie (don't know why) who was a very talented player.

WestConn looks extremely weak as some of their losses have been blowouts. Boston is .500 but that will decline as they have never had good seasons in the past years

Is their a team out there who can contend with EastConn.  They look to be the heavy favorites in the conference this year.  They have all region forward Max Fantl and Senior captain Nick Boretti leading the way for a high powered offense.  The defense was the only question mark for the team this year losing two all conference starting defenders and one all-american defender.  It seems the defense is holding its own.

Should be an interesting year but personally I do not see EastConn losing a game in the conference this year, and maybe only losing one or two outside the conference....Any thoughts?

Agreed about the surprising starts. RIC is a shocker - I remember looking at them last year and not seeing many seniors. PSU on the other hand lost quite a few, so they are a bit of a surprise.

ECSU was quality last year, and appear to be so again this year. They will get themselves in trouble only if they look past somebody. The LEC has shown me that it is competitive every year, and the playoff picture is never resolved until match day 7.

MiSoccerDave, I would have to agree with you that on any given weekend, most teams in the LEC can beat any other team in the conference(With the exception of maybe boston).  RIC, USM, and Dartmouth all won their games yesterday.  Ric with a very impressive win over Bridgewater state....7-2.

Keene, Boston and EastConn all play today.  It will be interesting to see what Boston does against a Salem State team that Plymouth defeated 6-2.

I think today we will find out how real EastConn is.  They play a tough NESCAC team on the road in Trinity.  I have seen them pull of a few quality wins but this will be big if they want to prove the non-beleivers wrong.

My prediction.... Eastconn 2 Trinity 1.  Lets hope they represent the Little East Conference well today.

So, another crazy day in LEC World. PSU misses Semir, losing to Bates, 2-0 for Bates first win of the season. And ECSU loses to Trinity, 1-0.

NESCAC 2, LEC 0 for the day.

Keene wins again, 1-0 over Worcester.

Salem State tops UMB, 3-1.

The Nescac seems to continually be the better conference year in and year out.  UMB loses to Salem 3-1 after Plymouth beat Salem 6-2 earlier in the year... shows how weak UMB is.

Also, Bates is not one of the stronger teams in the Nescac and they beat plymouth 2-0.  Shows what not having your star player can do to a team.

Trinity defeats ECSU 1-0 in what appeared to be a pretty even game in the scoresheets.  Looks like my prediction regarding this game was wrong.

Keene rolls on with another win, could we see the Keene of a few years ago coming back to the LEC???  Maybe Butch has had enough of screaming at his players, and now has decided to actually coach soccer, something I have yet to see.

Match ups and predictions this weekend...

UMD over UMB, RIC over WCSU, PSU over USM, and ECSU over Keene.  Any thoughts... biggest game will be ECSU vs Keene as Keene seems to be stepping up their game... Look forward to seeing the results.

Eastern and Keene always seem to draw each year, so i'm going to say 1-1 in the match.  This match will have some good quality and many chances but at the end of the day i say a draw. RIC should handle western easily, and same with dartmouth over boston.  The other match is Plymouth at USM.  Both teams come in 0-1 and desperately need points,  neither team can afford to slip to 0-2.  USM has been a tough place to get results over the past few years.  They haven't lost a home conference game since the 06 season. I think USM shows their teeth and pulls out a win.

 Keene-Eastern has to be the shocker of the weekend...4-1 loss at home for eastern!! Keene has 2 freshman upfront who have been quite dangerous...they combined for all the goals yesterday. I was at the USM-Plymouth game. The 2-1 result for USM was indicative of the game. Each team hit a few posts including Semir for plymouth with under 10 to go. USM was the better team yesterday though, their backs handled Semir very well, he was extremely frustrated and began diving and eventually got a yellow for simulation. Besides Semir, Plymouth was not dangerous at all.  They certainly are not a team deserving of any regional rankings. Overall They were average at best. 

Agreed on the Keene-ECSU result.

What was the USM Red card for?

USM forward picked up his 2nd yellow as the final whistle blew. Hard foul on a plymouth defender. Pretty stupid foul with 1 second to go in the game. It was the cause of a small scuffle at the end of the game.

I am not surprised that a USM forward got a red card at the end of the game with a second left.  I have seen USM forwards fly off the handle at times over the past years.

Also, Studs up, USM lost its home conference opener last year in the playoffs in the first round to plymouth, unless you meant in league play, and not the tournament.

Keene absolutely dominated ECSU, where Eastern Finally showed it's age on defense.  If not for goalie Carl Appel, the game could have been almost "embarrassing" for the home team.  Keene Freshman Forward Shawn (don't know his last name) showed some good skill, and hit a free kick from about 25 yards out.

All in all another crazy weekend in the LEC.  This weekend made me realize the LEC will in fact never change from the days of old where on any given day, any team can beat another.  Should make for an interesting next month!

Hello,

New to the board everyone!

I was with the old site, d3kicks until that site and forum went downhill!  I hope this site runs well as I am a huge fan of the game and especially of the LEC.

To start, crazy weekend especially with the Keene 4 to 1 victory over ECSU.

Other than that, I see a big test coming in for UMD with Conn. College tomorrow who just beat Amherst 4-1.  Also, Plymouth has a huge test with Middlebury.  Look for RIC and Framingham game to be a battle also.  I have close sources that tell me that Framingham team this year is high quality.  Finally, Keene and Babson.  This will be a legitimate test for the Owls this year.

Tell me your thoughts!

Gattusso, I recognize the name from the d3 kicks forum which I was also a large contributor too. 

I have changed my name on this site so you would obviously not recognize me. 

I remember you having ties with one of the teams in the LEC, USM or Plymouth if I am not mistaken.  It would be nice to get someone else's views on the teams in the LEC this year with a little bit of bias perhaps.

Any predictions or thoughts on the LEC teams this year???

Look forward to getting this forum up and running as it has been slacking compared to the d3 kicks forum of old.

Yes, I do have ties to an LEC team.  I rather not say which, but I do.  Neither of the two that you stated though.  

What was your old username?

I think all Little East teams lost alot other than RIC and UMD.  All other teams lost major contributors.  The only team that I believe that benefitted from the losses was Keene as you may see.  I know that the coach said "I am going to completely re-do this team next year" and it has paid off.

I know atleast a little about every team in the conference, a lot about some, and out of conference I have knowledge also.

 I'm surprised with WCS.  I thought they would have been much better this year thus far.  They have/had this year, 3 returners that I think can control a game in the midfield.  But, you never know.  

gattuso, good to see you're back!

KSC remains a surprise, but Shawn Shand is a handful up front. He'd be doing even more if he put more shots on frame.

PSU is in a tough spot, losing their first two. They have WCSU coming in on Saturday. If they can secure a win, they're back in the hunt.

 Soccerfan, I'm talking about regular season games. Im aware of the loss at home in the LEC semi's last year

My Predictions for the year. 

Regular Season Final Standings (LEC records only)

 1.  RIC (seem to get 3 pts on Saturdays even with a bad overall record)

2.  Keene ( just playing good ball. I've watched them online and seem inspired)

3. ECSU (fantl is a machine and the rest are disciplined guys that play physical and simple)

4.  UMD (surprise team for this season.  Just have a feeling. Stats are pretty spread out so far)

5. Plymouth (Semir is the weapon. Lost a lot of seniors.  Dre Cabral is also explosive)

6. West.Conn. (not much to say other than... I thought they would be better thus far)

7. Southern Maine (lost everything they had good last year other than Mchugh who can't take over)

8. Boston (boston........beat USM 3-0 though......???)

Gattuso, I will have to agree with most of what you said.  Ric truly does seem to get it done on Saturdays which is odd,but i look forward to their matchups with ECSU and Keene. 

Keene is looking strong right now, although I feel it is one of the weaker keene teams I have seen step on the field in a few years.

USM did lose a great deal this past year and it shows.  And Boston is not much to talk about and with the loss of Romeo, they will be even weaker than usual.

I do have to disagree with your outlook on ECSU as Fantl is an unbeleivable player, but I think where they lack, is in their physicality and their tendency to not play simple.  They are a small team who constantly gets knocked off the ball with exceptions to a few players.  Also, most of their players like to dribble defenders and beat them when a simple shot from 18 yards would do.

I think you were spot on in your first three picks, but the fourth is up for grabs between UMD and Plymouth, so all in all very good predictions! 

Yes.  I based my assupmtion on ECSU on last year.  They were very tough in the back 4.   I know they graduated all 4, but I just had a feeling that the coach had been bringing in a lot of similar molded players.  They were very strong physically plast year.  That is what made them so good.  I don not think that they were too skilled of a team, but a very hard nosed team. 

Plymouth, like I said, is up in the air.  I look at them and see the same team as last year, but with loses and see them online and am just unimpressed.  UMD seems to just get points.  They seem to have a tendency to fall off on Saturdays in the past.  When they had a great overall record a couple years back, they still finished 5th in the LEC (maybe 6th).  They seem to have a better brand of ball though from what I've heard and the number of new players to the preexisting talent.

The one thing I say I must disagree with you is that comment about Keene.  Last year, to me, Keene sucked.  Terrible.  Keene used to be that team that NOONE could beat in the LEC (also Western at one point, but those days are gone).  If you take this years roster and print it out with last years, you will see the changes.  They are very young along with transfers (i'm assuming).  I think for a young team, they are very solid.  And from watching online, they are playing good ball.

Gatusso, I think your spot on with your last post. I'm going to just interject here with something about plymouth. I think that the reason they will probably finish in the 4th spot is the lack of quality with 5,6,7,8 spots. If this years plymouth team was playing in last years conference, they wouldnt have a prayer to make the tournament. Like I said earlier, Semir is their only weapon. Their back 4 is a laughing matter, the 2 center backs turn like the Titanic when trying to run down strikers. They both look like they should be playing O-line for the football team. Anyway, this isn't a plymouth bashing post, but all i'm saying is that you cant be successful with a 1 man team. Great assessment of previous keene and eastern teams by the way.

Thank you.

So what is your thought of UMD then?  To say that they will finish below Plymouth?  Have you seen them in action or anything of that sort? Or even while on it, how about West. Conn. and Southern?