WORCESTER -- WPI's Kristen McCrea (Weymouth, MA) netted a pair of goals and Gabriela Hoops (Stonington, CT) notched eight of her career-high 19 saves in overtime, as the hosts and visiting MIT played to a 2-2 double overtime on Tuesday evening.  The match, which originally scheduled for 4pm, did not kickoff until 6:40pm due to prolonged lightning in the Worcester area.  

WPI, unbeaten in its last eight contests (6-0-2), is 11-4-2 on the season and 5-2-2 versus NEWMAC opponents.  MIT, who was ranked sixth in the first NCAA Division III New England regional rankings and 25th in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Top 25, improves to 12-2-3 overall and 8-0-1 in conference action.  The result secured the NEWMAC title outright for Cambridge's Engineers but denied MIT the chance to have the first undefeated, untied NEWMAC season since Wheaton accomplished the feat in 2007.   It is MIT's fourth outright conference crown in the last five years and they have now won outright or shared the last seven regular season championships.  

McCrea got the hosts on the board at 36:14 with her ninth goal of the fall on a shot from 20 yards out on the left side. MIT's Hailey Nichols (Boulder, CO) knotted the game up early in the second stanza as she put home a corner kick from junior Emily Berzolla (Riverside, CT) at 50:14. McCrea put WPI back on top less than ten minutes later at 60:09 when she snuck the ball under the crossbar from the top of the box off a pass via Becca Hapgood (Halifax, MA).  Chessa Hoekstra (Portland, ME) registered her fourth goal of the year at 70:42 and evened the game up at two after she struck the ball from the left side. 

Hoops took center stage in overtime, posting four saves in each of the 10-minute sessions.  She easily surpassed her old career-best of 11 saves, which ironically was in an overtime draw with MIT last year in Cambridge.  Lily Mueller (Lakeville, MN) was credited with four saves for the guests. 

For the match MIT held a large 29-9 edge in shots but a slim 5-3 margin in corner kicks. 

Both teams close out the regular season with home NEWMAC matches on Saturday.  WPI will host Springfield at 5pm as part of Homecoming Weekend and Senior Night while MIT entertains Emerson at 4pm. 

Portions of Release Courtesy MIT Sports Information