Bangor’s Leach gets New England honor Peers select Ashland native best in region

BANGOR – Adam Leach is quick to deflect credit for the success of the Bangor High boys soccer program – to the players he coaches, and to youth-level coaches in the city who instill the fundamentals of the sport in its youngest participants.

But now Leach’s peers have recognized his role in leading the Rams to their first-ever Class A state championship this fall.

On Sunday he was named the state’s large-school coach of the year by the Maine Soccer Coaches Association.

On Monday the Ashland native learned he has been named 2006 Region I (New England) large-school coach of the year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

Leach, 36, was selected from among five coaches nominated by New England state associations for the regional award.

He becomes one of eight regional honorees eligible for the national coach of the year award. That will be announced during the 60th annual NSCAA convention to be held Jan. 10-14, 2007, in Indianapolis.

Leach led Bangor to a 16-1-1 record this fall, a run capped off by back-to-back overtime victories over Brunswick in the Eastern A final and Scarborough in the state championship game that gave the Rams their first gold ball in the sport since it was introduced at Bangor in 1979.

The Rams also were ranked sixth in the final Region I New England soccer poll.

Bangor graduated 14 seniors from its 2005 team that also was regionally ranked during the season, but a squad heavy on underclassmen came back this fall and allowed just nine goals in 19 games – including the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship contest.