Some might say that our sports program has many rivals throughout the ECC. Our baseball team and East Lyme go at it every year, not to mention the newer rivalry of our lacrosse team and Stonington.  However, one of the most intense rivalries is between our boys’ basketball team and the New London Whalers.

The Whalers are our next door neighbors, and every year the two teams go at it, sometimes two or three times during the season, whether during the regular season or in tournament play, and every match-up is always loud and intense. Both teams and their fans look forward to these games every season.

However, the match-up will most likely be non-existent this year during the regular season.

Athletic Director Mr. Sousa said, “We had the game ready. We were under the impression that we were playing them, then I [saw] that they had scheduled a game where we were supposed to be, so we had find someone else to play to round off our 20 game schedule.”

Sousa added, “We always want to play New London with the rivalry and them being next door, and everything it’s always fun. When they had people like [Minnesota Timberwolf  point guard] Kris Dunn and [Fairfield University assistant basketball coach and former NBA point guard] Tyson Wheeler, they weren’t exactly rushing to play us, but over the last couple years, we’ve matched up really well and have got a good game out of it. It’s unfortunate that we don’t get to see them during the regular season, so now we just look at the possibility of seeing them in the ECC tournament and we sure hope that we do.”

“It’s disappointing, every year there’s so much hype around the game, it’s the rivalry we all look forward to and it’s definitely going to feel different that we’re more than likely not going to play them at all,” said sophomore Tanner Correia, a member of the Lancer Nation fan section.