Here are the answers to the most recent posts about the teams.

RIC from last year coming into this year lost one senior JOsh Silva and their goalie who failed out of school.  Kory Pacheco quit the team mid season and Adam Philbin also quit but before the season started.

East Conn. Graduated three defenders and the black kid up front.  They return everyone else mostly.

Keene, completely new team.  The coach last year stated that "he was going to completely re-do the roster" because he did not like what he had last year.  They start 6 freshman and some sophmores.  They will return to a legacy in D3 soon.

UMD did not lose anything of significance.  They seem to be the most improved with the Keene side.  They brought in a bunch of local transfers and return all key players.  They also have been playing without one of their captains now for about a week due to injury.

Plymouth...believe it or not, they still have a shot.  I like Plymouth, I just think they lack the "ganas" or the desire to win.  I think Semir and Dre are two absolute studs.

USM... tell you the truth, I do not know.  THe results are mixed, but they did loss Cox and the striker up top.

Boston, same thing, different day.  The kid Zazzara is overrated.  

West Conn.  I thought they had really good freshman last year, but they are not panning out liek I had thought.

Is it the consensus that the top 3 are locked up with some sort of order of RIC, ECSU, and Keene? If this is the case, who are the leading candidates for the 4th spot? I'm thinking that this Monday's match with USM-UMD is going to be the decider. If UMD wins, this might give plymouth a glimpse of hope because of the head to head match up. If USM wins, this would put USM in a good spot having the tie breaker over both PSU and UMD

Keene 4-1

Econn 3-1

RIC 3-2

USM and UMD both 2-2

USM has UMD, RIC, Keene

UMD has USM, Econn, Wconn

So looks like USM has the harder remaining schedule, so USM/UMD is even more important of a game for them. If they win that, they may be able to win the Keene game if they already have the top spot locked up. However Keene may also be out for blood after last years game. Keene does have the head to head over both Econn and RIC so it looks like they have a good shot to lock up that top spot.

Plymouth may still have a shot but they need to move Dre to outside mid , he doesn't have the foot skills to be in the middle, the freshman Parker does so put him there instead. Dre has speed which would also help on the wing.  Take Stephan out of the middle too, put one of the Joys (either Cole or Ryan) in the middle with Parker.

 only saw plymouth once this year and the dre kid was a non factor. Perhaps hes in the wrong position, I dont know. Anyway, UMD-USM tie tonight....Both teams will desperately need points in the final 2 match days. USM has the harder schedule...how do people think things will shape up?

I think they both have a chance to go 1-1 in their final two games.

As I said before Keene may sit some starters if they have the # 1 spot locked up. However both games are going to be hard for USM.

UMD should be able to pick up the win over Wconn but they can't overlook them either. It all depends who shows up for the last two games. It looks like it is going to come down to the last week and me even come to down to tie breakers.

SoccerAlum, I'd hate to say it but Keene won't sit any starters if they want to win the LEC.  Eastern had UMD, UMB, and Plymouth left on their schedule.  Their is a good chance they could sweep those three games forcing Keene to win out as well.  Granted Eastern plays away at all these sides but I still think they are favored in all three of the matches.

It will most likely come down to the final day, and perhaps some tiebreakers as stated before.  But if butch and gang want to host the lec tourney, they better play their players and worry about resting them after the season.

Based on what I've seen so far my best guess where things will end up at seasons end......       .Keene  6-1   ECSU 6-1   RIC  5-2 UMD 3-3-1  PSU  3-4  SMU 2-4-1  and the rest.............could be wrong but that's why they play the games huh?  Another decent season for the LEC though. 

So we head into the final match day with a number of things resolved, but several last pieces to be sorted out.

Standings (taken from littleeast.com):

Schedule for the weekend:

 

Oct. 31	12:00 PM	UMass Boston		Rhode Island College
	1:00 PM	UMass Dartmouth		Western Connecticut
	1:00 PM	Keene State		Southern Maine
	4:30 PM	Eastern Connecticut		Plymouth State

 

ECSU, Keene, and RIC are guaranteed playoff spots. #1 seed is still up in the air. Keene has the head-to-head edge if both ECSU and Keene win or tie. RIC lost to both, so they are locked into 3rd, as they also beat Plymouth.

 

If Plymouth beats ECSU, they are in and would travel to play the #1 seed in the first round. I'm sure they want to redeem the 2-0 loss at Keene earlier in the year. If Plymouth ties, they need Southern Maine to not beat Keene in order to get in, as they have the head-to-head victory over UMD.

 

If PSU loses, and both UMD and USM win, I don't know what the next tie-breaker would be, as they tied in their match 1-1.

 

 

Just another crazy year in the LEC.

 The regular season has come to an end after another year of LEC soccer. Dartmouth sneaks into the 4th spot with a win over WCSU and heart breaking losses for both PSU and USM. Fixtures for the tournament are as follows:

UMD@Keene 

RIC@ECSU

In my opinion ECSU is the best team in the LEC. I think that Keene is a very good team as well but they lack that game changing player in Fantl or Boretti. Keene is a physical team and they are fairly organized but come tournament time you need a game changer. I think both 1,2 seeds will cruise to the finals. Eastern was spanked 4-1 earlier this year by Keene, believe me they will be out for revenge. 

Studsup, 

Where does your knowledge come from???

Keene has an impact player in Shawn Shand.  Eastern won't have that easy of a time with RIC and Keene lost to UMD in the regular season.  All four teams are very good teams in my opinion.

Gattusso,

I've seen every LEC team play this year thats where my knowledge comes from, plus 4 years of playing in the conference previously.  I never said that there were any weak teams in the top 4, i'm simply saying that i believe that ECSU is the best team and has a good shot at winning the tournament. In terms of the Shand kid from Keene, he was a non factor when i saw him play. He was yanked out early in the 1st half due to his poor play and his dirty play. Might have just not been his day, but he comes nowhere near max fantl.  In terms of the previous results, UMD over Keene its something to pay attention to. But, UMD was inconsistent throughout the campaign and i think they will lose on wednesday. ECSU v RIC will be a good match, but like i said before ECSU will win, they are disciplined organized and can flat out play soccer. So, I hope that answers some of your questions gattusso.

Gattuso, ECSU did in fact have an easy time with RIC.  If you saw the game, which I don't know fi you did..the game was more than a 2-0 game, but should have been 4 or more.  Eastern had a goal called back on a very questionable offsides call...and they also had a player taken down in the box with no call becuase the sideline ref was scared to make the big call.

Eastern showed they were the dominant team here and they have shown it all year long.  Very fitting that the two senior captains scored the two goals.  They play UMD who pulled off an (upset???).  The game is Saturday at Eastern's home field, where they have lost 2 games in the past two years.

My prediction...UMD will put up a tough fight but in the end ECSU will be too much. 3-1 ECSU.  If this were not such an important game i might say 4-0 ecsu, but umd will show its true fight in this one.

Eastern to the NCAA's for the 2nd time in three years...I smell a new dominating presence in the little east...bye bye Keene St.

Soccerfan, I agree with you on just about everything you said except for bye bye keene state. Although the #1 team was upset by the 4 seed for the second year in a row, look for Keene to re-establish themselves as a good team in New England in the years to come. They are a very young team for the most part and have their three top scorers returning next year. But credit to eastern, they have been one one of the top teams in the conference for the 3rd yr in a row.

Studs up...here are my reasons for why ECSU will become the next dominant team in the LEC.  For the past three years they show that they can truly play soccer.  The coach seems to demand discipline on the field and the players he is bringing in are top flight players all over the region.

Recruiting is huge in D3 and he seems to be going out and getting good players.  Eastern will potentially win the conference this year with a back line and goalie consisting of 3 freshman and 2 sophomores.  They're losing three seniors, granted they are all good players and starters, but they havea  freshmen and a sophomore transfer who have shown they can find the net.

The coach of ECSU reminds me a lot of what i imagine butch was like...10 years ago.  Butch is past his days and doesn't show the true love for the game, the way it should be played like he did even 6 years ago.  I feel that is the main reason keene won't emerge back on top any time soon.  I have talked to kids over the years and no one really wants to play for him.

I honestly thought this may be a down year for ECSU after losing some big name players, but they have shown they are not to be taken lightly.  Look for them to win a game or two in the ncaa's.  They have played the best this country has to offer in montclair st (14-1-1) and lost in overtime with minutes to play. 

Either way gluck to any LEC teams who make the tournament, although i don't think any will receive an at large bid this year.

points well taken. couldnt agree more with your analysis of ECSU. I like their style of play and I think they could make some noise in the tourament. Good luck to them, I'd love them to upset a nescac team in the opening round.

As a former player in the LEC I just wanted to extend congratulations to ECSU. They were by far the best team we played in the conference and they were one of the few teams that I can actually say I respect as far as their overall play and attitude. I hope they do some damage in the tournament for sure.

BiggDigg...very classy gesture by you.  You said  you are a former player, and then you stated they were the best team you played.  I'm guessing this means this was your last season. 

I graduated from Eastern last year where I played 4 years. and i miss it more than you know right now.  Every game i went and saw was a tough one to watch not being out there on that field. 

The little east conference is a great one and any player who played in it looked forward to those Saturday battles.  It comes and goes so quickly.  But you learn to appreciate it even after you're playing.

Congratulations to Eastern on another fine season.  They have an extremely tough draw in the first round with RPI (Ranked in the nation all year).  After talking to a few of ECSU's players including their captains, they seem to like the match up and like being the underdog.  IF they could pull of an upset, they would most likely play Williams( playing husson in 1st round...Husson = extremely weak).  Eastern and Williams played int he ncaa's two years ago where Williams came out on top.  Could be a very good match up.

Any thoughts..lets keep this thread interesting until ECSU is at least out of the tourney.

i dont kno if u guys went to watch eastern and umass in the finals but if u did tell me wat u thought of the game.  From wat i saw, umass control the entire game and completely out played eastern.  Fantl, bein the great player he is, was a non factor in the game.  umass had many scoring chances that went unfinished and eastern scored there opportunity to win the game.