Eastern Connecticut State University - Sustinet Yearbook (Willimantic, CT)

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SOCCER1 ir- 11 C 5. can---1 The 1976 Eastern Connecticut State College soccer team was good . . . good enough to knock off National finalist University of New Haven, highly-touted Westfield State, and good enough to finish with a 10 win 4 loss record. The booters were not good enough, however, to compete in the Eastern Colle- giate Athletic Conference QECACJ post - season tournament. With their tourney bid hinging on the outcome, the Warriors were edged, 2-1, by eventual ECAC champion North Adams State. With the heartbreaking loss, Coach Tom Nevers' strik- ers were regulated to a post-season sideline seat . . . a position which a Nevers coached squad had managed to avoid since 1966. Well, come the fall of 1977, the Warriors, without the loss ofa single player from the previous year, decided to have another go at it. Many thought that the booters had earned a right to see post-season action in 1976 and the '77 squad was intent on proving it . . . and prove it they did. Rather than putting their feet in their mouths, however, the Warriors let their feet do the talking. With junior newcomer Ed Gardiner providing solid scoring punch to an inconsistent front line of one year ago, and All-Star sweeperback Paul St. Laurent anchoring a defensive unit which could deny the B-1 bomber, ECSC rolled to a 9-3-2 regular season record. With impressive victories over Division II powerhouse University of Hartford Q5-OJ, Westfield State Q4-OJ, Central Connecticut Q4-lj and a 1-1 tie with perennial New England champion University of New Haven, the War- riors brought a strong case before the selection committee, which had no viable alternative but to grant Nevers' Warriors freedom from their year-long exile. The Warriors, ranked second in the four team field behind Middlebury College of Vermont, squeezed by third ranked Wesleyan 3-2, in the opening round. It took six overtime per- iods and Gardiner's hat trick to subdue the stubborn Cardinals, however.