University of Maine soccer player Sophie Lecot and UMaine basketball player John Gordon were given opportunities to flourish for the Black Bears. Both had two productive years, both were or were to be captains.

Both are now transferring.

Lecot feels her goal of playing for the Canadian National team will be best served if she transfers to a perennial NCAA Tournament team, the University of Massachusetts.

Granted, the competition will be better.

But she may not get the opportunity to excel at UMass like she did at Maine, where she could have led Maine to its first America East playoff berth and been the focal point of he team.

She told Patterson of her decision last Friday.

Nice of her.

Talk about leaving a coach hanging……

Gordon is transferring to the University of Delaware where he can play in his home state and aspire to become a hometown hero in two years.

He said he wanted to be closer to his mother and didn’t feel comfortable in rural Maine.

Geez, John, did urban Orono mislead you on your recruiting visit?

It didn’t sink in at that time that Maine is a rural state?

Gordon’s departure will actually benefit the program.

Giannini will now have to divide up Gordon’s playing time among young players which will bode well for the future. The Bears aren’t likely to finish in the top four in America East next year but the addition of Boston College transfer Andy Bedard and the experience gained by the newcomers could make them a contender in two years.

It would be poetic justice if Bedard buried a game-winning jumper over Gordon to win the America East title some day.

The record-setting Lecot, on the other hand, left Patterson and his team in a real dilemma.

The second-team All-American and America East Player of the Year had 17 goals and four assists in 17 games this past fall.

That kind of production can’t be replaced.

Patterson could have insisted that she sit out a year at UMass and that may have deterred her.

But he made a good point: Why keep someone against her will?

He was right in granting her the waiver.

His only mistake was misjudging her loyalty or lack thereof.

She may have transferred to a Canadian school to be closer to her home in Montreal, anyway.

Maine will survive but the path to the America East playoffs got a little more difficult.

It is the ’90s and the selfishness of the pro athlete is having a trickle down effect.

Lecot and Gordon should have honored their commitments to Maine.

– Larry Mahoney, BDN

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