WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Under ordinary circumstances, the men's soccer team is one of the most dedicated and hard-working teams among many dedicated and hard-working teams at Eastern Connecticut State University, the Commissioner's Cup winner symbolizing athletic superiority in the Little East Conference the last four years running.

In the midst of a pandemic, however, one might would think that moving to a hybrid season would have taken some of the steam out of its engine. According to 14^th-year head coach Greg DeVito and senior goalie Kyle Boutot of Tolland, the team has remained as focused, hard-working and family- oriented as ever.
 
DeVito, the most successful active coach in the conference with a 73.9 percent win rate, opted to continue a relatively normal practice schedule this fall until all full, organized workouts for all Eastern teams was halted on October 24.
 
With outside competition cancelled in late August, DeVito's teams practiced five days a week, alternating hard days and skill-focused days.  DeVito explained that  "we train pretty hard for three of the days -- one of those being a team small-sided tournament. The  fourth day, we did individual small-group training so that [the players] got a lot of development that way. On Friday nights, we played [intrasquad] games, and everyone got a lot of playing time, so the development has been really good, especially for the younger guys."
 
One re-occurring word from both DeVito and Boutot was 'development'. Although there was an absence of outside competition this season, the team was afforded the opportunity to at least train, putting all of its focus on developing for next season. Boutot explains, "We are super- fortunate, because some schools are very limited in what they can do during practice, but we got extra soccer and touches. We're in our seventh week (as of late October) and that's seven more weeks than a lot of other schools are getting, and luckily, everything went great."
 
To Boutot, focusing upon development made the Friday night scrimmages even more exciting. "The scrimmages gave us something to look forward to every week -- to see how our progress translated into a game -- and it gave the freshman game exposure."
 
Boutot made it very clear that the team has been a family throughout his four-year career, and that regardless of the pandemic, there was no intention of changing that this season.
 
With social distancing being emphasized, Boutot says that "as far as off-the-field [restrictions], it's not impossible, but it's more difficult to introduce the new guys. It was definitely tougher to get to know the younger guys off the field but we made it a priority to bond with them." He added that the team has been focusing on having the upperclassmen frequently checking in on the newcomers to see how their transition to college has been.
 
This fall – as was the case last spring – everyone has especially felt, in all sports, for the seniors, who have had their final seasons truncated or eliminated. The soccer senior class – one of the largest under DeVito -- include Boutot, Emmanuel Agyemang of East Hartford, Lucas Chaude of Montville; Brendan D'Arcy of West Hartford, Connor Francis of Colchester, David Noel of Armonk, NY, Danny Shayler of Avon, and Jake Szymko of Upton, MA. All except Emmanuel and Francis have been with the program for four years.

Although the virus has eliminated outside competition this fall, the four-year players experienced overwhelming success the previous three years. They have won 74 percent of their matches overall in that span, with an LEC regular-season record of 16-5-2 and successive outright LEC regular-season titles the past two years. The last two years have produced an overall record of 32-7-0 (82.0 pct.) and an average of 16 wins per year.
 
For the record, Boutot has appeared in 38 matches in goal with a 0.64 goals-against average, putting him third all-time in program history in that department, an eyelash behind Jordan Munsell (0.62) and Greg Walton (0.63); in his first season last year after transferring from Springfield College, Agyemang was named second-team All-New England Region and LEC Defensive Player-of-the-Year after starting all 20 matches and chipping in six goals (on six penalty-kick attempts; Chaude has appeared in 51 games off the bench with eight assists and 12 points; a two-time All-LEC selection, D'Arcy has started 44 of the 47 matches in which he has appeared, averaging 81 minutes; a second-year transfer from Anna Maria College, Francis appeared in 15 matches last year, with six starts; Noel was a three-year starter who has appeared in 50 matches and averaged 65.6 minutes per outing; Shayler has contributed four goals and four assists in 51 matches (eight starts); and Szymko has four goals and three assists in 25 matches, coming off the bench in all but one;
 
Boutot, Chaude, and Noel are all LEC All-Academic qualifiers and Eastern Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, and Shayler joining them as an Eastern Scholar-Athlete recipient.
 
To many, the thought of playing hard for three years only to get to senior season and have no outside competition and no chance for a third straight LEC title is understandably disappointing. However, Boutot has a different outlook. "From a senior standpoint, it's important for us to stay motivated because we want to be role models/examples for the newcomers," he points out.
He described the senior mindset being to shape the team for future seasons and to work as hard as ever to maintain the work ethic no matter what the circumstances. "What kind of season we have is up to the upperclassman and how we choose to work with our team and get everyone focused on the same goal," he adds.
 
With COVID-19 taking away the team's opportunity to play matches this year, the coaches and players had to think of more creative and effective ways to stay motivated. The team continued to set goals for itself that often came to fruition in the Friday night scrimmages. Boutot explains how disappointing it is for the team not be able to show opponents the progress it has been making, especially because the team has been working hard all through the summer. However, he mentions how motivating it is to be able to see how much the team is improving even playing intrasquad scrimmages. DeVito expressed how much he loves the extra time they have for specialized practices and how well those are translating to the scrimmages as well. "I know it's not a real game that counts but the Friday games are as competitive as anything," notes the head coach.
 
Interestingly, DeVito mentioned one particularly effective bonding method. DeVito assigns each academic class a book to read prior to which the team discusses every couple weeks. These books are centered around being a good teammate and embracing the process. The discussions are led mainly by the players, who oftentimes will provide presentations.
 
While COVID-19 has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives, the 2020 men's soccer team has accentuated all the positives and are overall grateful that it can maintain the competitive, family atmosphere.
 
Boutot explains that "coming back into the family atmosphere is something you may take for granted, but you realize how much you miss it when you're away and also fulfilling your four-year commitment to the program." 
 
Eastern men's soccer is one of the many NCAA sports to be affected by the pandemic, but the Warriors have been able to maintain their core values and continue to improve among themselves.
 
DeVito has made the most of this season, using the extra time to focus on maximize developing his players' true potential.  "The last six months have been really hard on everyone," he admits, "but they've been amazing, and I'm really proud of them."