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Western Conn. Aims For Little East Women’s Soccer Three-Peat
Southern Maine Picked to Finish Fifth
August 28, 2008
NORTH DARTMOUTH,
Mass. –
Western Connecticut State University has been chosen as
the preseason favorite to win the 2008
Little East
Conference Women’s Soccer Regular Season Championship
after a vote by the league’s eight head coaches. The
Colonials have won the past two conference championship
tournaments, advancing to the
NCAA Division
III Tournament as the Little East automatic qualifier each
year.
Western Connecticut earned seven of the eight first
place votes and totaled 62 points to secure the top ranking
in the annual coaches’ survey.
Eastern Connecticut State University received the final
first place vote and 53 points to narrowly nip
Keene State College by just a single marker for the
second seed.
Under the direction of Head Coach
Joe Mingachos,
Western Connecticut enjoyed the program’s most
successful season in 2007, boasting an overall record of
21-3-1. The Colonials established a new single-season wins
mark, putting an additional victory between the previous
standard. Mingachos led
Western Connecticut to its fifth overall
Little East
Conference Tournament, earning the program’s seventh
appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Colonials strung
together four postseason victories to advance to the
national semifinal round for the first time in the program’s
history before bowing out to the eventual national champion,
Wheaton College (Ill.).
Mingachos will welcome back three all-conference selections
from the 2007 squad, including first-tam striker
Catherine Nathans (New Fairfield, Conn.).
Nathans became the first
Western Connecticut women’s soccer student-athlete to
earn first-team All-American honors after leading the
conference circuit in scoring (45 points). Nathans and her
teammates will host WPI at 7 p.m. on Sept. 2 in the season
opener.
Eastern Connecticut recorded its seventh-straight season
with at least 11 victories last year, sporting an overall
mark of 11-6-0. The Warriors used a stifling defensive
attack—allowing the least amount of goals in the conference
and setting the program’s consecutive shutout streak (6)—to
earn the second seed in the conference tournament. Head
Coach
Chris D’Ambrosio
led his squad into the championship match of
Little East
Tournament before being edged by the Colonials, 2-1.
Eastern Connecticut returns an experienced group of
student-athletes back to the fold from the 2007 campaign,
including 14 letter winners and seven starters. Senior
midfielder Nicole
Guadette (Colchester, Conn.)
and junior defender
Christine Lemieux (South Windsor, Conn.)
each earned first-team honors last Fall, while junior
midfielder Taylor
MacDonald (Oak Bluffs, Mass.)
represented the Warriors on the second team. The Warriors
will make their debut against Manhattanville at 4:30 p.m. on
Sept. 2.
Keene State College reached the finals of the 2007
Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III
New England Tournament, earning the program’s 11th
consecutive postseason appearance. Head Coach
Denise Lyons
has recorded at least 12 victories in each of her 11
campaigns on the Division III pitch, and last season was no
exception as her Owls sported an overall record of 14-9-1.
Keene State will return 15 letter winners and six
starters from a year ago, including second-team
all-conference selection junior midfielder
Molly Brunelle (Walpole, N.H.).
The 2006
Little East
Conference Rookie of the Year, Brunelle started all 23
matches and produced six points (1-4).
Keene State College will host
Norwich University at 1 p.m. on Aug. 30 to open the 2008
slate.
Completing the preseason coaches’ poll in projected order of
finish are
Rhode Island College (33),
University of Southern Maine (31),
Plymouth State University (28),
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (19), and
University of Massachusetts Boston (10).
The top-six teams in the final regular season standings
qualify for the 2008
Little East
Conference Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament with
the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receiving a bye and hosting
semifinal round action on Thursday, Nov. 6. The conference
champion will be crowned on Saturday, Nov. 8 and earn the
right to represent the
Little East
in the national tournament.
Little East
Conference
2008 Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll
Rk Institution (1st Place Votes) Points
1.
Western Connecticut (7) 62
2.
Eastern Connecticut (1) 53
3.
Keene State 52
4.
Rhode Island College 33
5.
Southern Maine 31
6.
Plymouth State 28
7.
UMass Dartmouth 19
8.
UMass Boston 10
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