DANBURY, Conn. - The Western Connecticut State University Wolves, coached by Joe Mingachos (10th Season), earned the No. 1 seed in the Little East Conference (LEC) Men's Soccer Championship Tournament and received a first round bye.  Two-time, defending LEC Champion WestConn has qualified for the LEC Men's Soccer Championship Tournament for the 14th time and the eighth year in a row and will host the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Corsairs (7-8-4, 3-3-2) in the semifinals on Wednesday, November 5 at 6 p.m.  The Wolves finished the 2025 regular season with a 12-5-3 overall record and a perfect 8-0 mark in the league to finish first in the final standings. 

The winner of the LEC Championship Tournament will determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. No. 2-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston (10-3-4, 5-1-2) also received a first round bye, while No. 5-seeded UMass Dartmouth advanced past the No. 4-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors (8-7-2, 4-3-1) on penalty kicks (0-0) in the first round on Saturday.  No. 6 -seeded Rhode Island College also reached the semifinals on PK's, playing the No. 3-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies (5-4-10, 3-1-4) to a 1-1 draw before winning, 3-1, in the shootout.  The LEC Championship finals will take place on Saturday with the semifinal winners facing off at the highest remaining seed.  The Wolves are 2-0 all-time against the Corsairs in the LEC Tournament, including a 1-0 win in the 2002 semifinals and a 6-0 victory in the 2021 first round..

WestConn worked its way back from a 1-4-1 start over the season's first two weeks and went 8-0-2 over a 30-day stretch to improve to 9-4-3 after a 3-2 tie at then-No. 1-ranked Williams College on October 12.  The Wolves suffered a 3-2 setback at Merchant Marine four days later but rallied to win its last three regular season, each by one goal against conference opponents.  WestConn has won the Little East Championship title six times, including the last two autumns.  In 2023, the Wolves entered the field as the No. 3 seed and defeated Southern Maine, 2-1, in the first round and both Keene State and UMass Boston on the road to capture the title.  Last fall, the Wolves were the top seed and downed Plymouth State, 4-1, in the semifinals before needing PK's to upend Rhode Island Collee (0-0) in the finals.  WestConn also collected back-to-back crowns in 2017 and 2018, and were the tournament finalists in 2022 when the they completed an unbeaten (20-0-2) campaign with a scoreless draw against UMass-Boston in the championship game.  The Wolves were also the conference finalists in 2021.

WestConn tops the LEC in scoring with two goals per game and sophomore Nickolas Santana (New Haven, Conn.) has more than twice as points as any other LEC player 41 points thanks to a league-high 18 goals.  Freshman forward Matthews Rocha (Danbury, Conn.) is tied for fourth in the league with seven goals and senior forward Maximus Vigo (Canton, Mich.) is tied for seventh with six goals.  Wolves junior midfielder Jeffrey Norales (Bronx, N.Y.) is third in the LEC with seven assists, followed by Santana and sophomore Juan Gomez Herrera (Brentwood, N.Y.) in fifth with five apiece.  Santana also has a conference-best six game-winning goals and Rocha is tied for ninth in the league with 17 points.  WestConn senior Nikolas Chevres () and junior backs Enzo LaGrassa-Gillet (North Bay Village, Fla.) and Anthony Reyes (Danbury, Conn.) anchor WestConn defense in front of rookie goalkeeper Makai Smith who has a league-low 1.19 GAA.