MetroFanatic: Connor, you realize that you're the fourth oldest on the team now.
Connor Lade: Yeah, that's a little weird. I don't feel like fourth oldest. I guess that's the important thing.

MF: What, you feel like the fifth or sixth?
CL: Maybe like the second youngest, Tyler's probably the one below me but other than that I don't feel like an old guy but when I think about it, it ages me a little more.

MF: It ages me a little more, I've been doing these 2002, and now I'm older than every player, it's a little weird.
CL: (laughs) It's scary. You want to smash every mirror in the house

MF: You're not there yet, are you?
CL: No, not there yet, I'm still feeling good, feeling fit. Feel like I'm in a good way right now, I'm just excited for the season to begin. We're really excited, it's going to be a good year for us.

MF: For all us short guys, the Open Cup in New England last year was an epic performance.
CL: (laughs)

MF: Shutting down a top MLS striker, playing central defense for the first time.
CL: It was good. You know, I've played center back in college, so it's not a totally new position for me, but that's probably one I better performances from last year. It was good to get two wins in New England back to back and you know that those have been few and far between. So it was a good team performance overall and we're really happy that we could do it

MF: With the exposure an expansion draft, were you confident coming back?
CL: You never really know. You know there's anything can really happen in this league, it's a league unlike any other where there's all these different drafts and different rules that are unlike any other league in the world. It's a little scary at times, but at the end of the day coming back I was very happy.

MF: We need to settle a very important thing. Are you the longest tenured player on the team? Because you were away with the Cosmos for a that short time...
CL: I would think so, I mean I was only away for about a month and a half...

MF: So the Cosmos does not count?
CL: It counts because they did a lot for me. They instilled a lot of confidence back in my game at a time that's probably one of the lower parts of my career, where I wasn't in a great way. I don't want to diminish that because they did a lot for me.

MF: Gio...
CL: Gio and his whole staff were absolute incredible, first class, and I thank them for everything they did for me.

MF: You'll see Gio next week...
CL: I'm excited to see him. I mean it's always nice going up against a competitive, very passionate coach, and I love playing for him.

MF: And then Petke next week.
CL: A nice little kind of flat flashback to the past. Couple weeks getting back and seeing those guys.