Keene State share top spot in LEC women's soccer preseason poll

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Eastern Connecticut State University and Keene State College have been predicted to share the Little East women’s soccer regular-season championship, according to the 2010 preseason coaches’ poll. The Warriors and Owls each earned 58 total points, but Keene State received the majority of first-place votes with four.

Western Connecticut State University garnered the final two first-place votes to enter the preseason rankings in the third position with 49 points. The Colonials had their three-year streak as regular-season champions stopped in 2009.
Eastern Connecticut earned its highest ranking in the preseason poll since 2006, when the Warriors captured their second of three conference championships. Eastern Connecticut will begin the 2010 campaign the same way they started the 2006 slate, as the defending Little East Champions. The Owls are making their sixth appearance as a preseason favorite and first since 2005. The Warriors and Keene State also shared the top ranking in the 2004 preseason listings.

Under the guidance of Head Coach Chris D’Ambrosio, Eastern Connecticut sported an overall record of 12-6-3 in 2009, marking the program’s ninth consecutive season with at least 10 victories. The Warriors also extended their streak of winning at least five conference matches to nine after posting a 5-1-1 mark in the conference circuit. Second-seeded Eastern Connecticut did not allow a goal in the Little East Tournament, including a 1-0 victory at the top-seeded Owls in the finals to receive the program’s fourth invitation into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Last year, Denise Lyons directed Keene State to the program’s first conference regular-season championship since 2004 with an unbeaten Little East record of 6-0-1. The Owls (16-6-3) matched the program’s third highest single-season victory total since Keene State joined the conference 13 years ago. The Owls closed the 2009 campaign in dramatic fashion by defeating Brandeis University on penalty kicks in the championship round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Tournament.     

The Little East sponsors a single round-robin conference schedule with each team playing seven matches. The top six teams in the final regular-season standings will earn a berth into the 2010 Little East Women’s Soccer Championship Tournament. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receive a bye and home field advantage into the semifinal round on Thursday, Nov. 4 with the winners advancing to the championship round three days later at the highest remaining seed. The conference champion will represent the league in the NCAA Division III Tournament.  

Completing the preseason poll in projected order of finish are University of Massachusetts Boston (36), University of Southern Maine (25), Plymouth State University (21), University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (20), and Rhode Island College (19).

In 1989, Eastern Connecticut State University, University of Massachusetts Boston, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (Southeastern Massachusetts University), Plymouth State University (College), Rhode Island College, and the University of Southern Maine each formed the Little East Conference. Western Connecticut State University joined the conference in 1993, while Keene State College completed the present eight-team membership in 1997.