WORCESTER -- Kaleb Asfaw (San Jose, CA) and Jack Minor (Boca Raton, FL) delivered second half goals to help MIT break a 1-1 halftime tie and defeat host WPI in an important NEWMAC men's soccer contest played Wednesday evening on H. Carr Field at Alumni Stadium.
 
Cambridge's Engineers are now 8-8-1 on the season and 3-3-1 in conference play.  The loss eliminates WPI from postseason contention.  The Crimson and Gray finished 9-5-4 overall and 1-3-4 in NEWMAC action.  WPI, which has the bye on Saturday on the final day of conference regular season play is currently in a three-way tie for the sixth and final NEWMAC Tournament spot with Wheaton and Emerson with seven points.  With the Engineers unable to get any points on Saturday, they would be out as Emerson would win the three-way tiebreak if both the Lions and Lyons lost Saturday as they would be 1-0-1 head-to-head among the three teams.
 
Prior to the game, WPI honored three of its seniors including Anthony Previte (Hopkinton, MA), Matthew Biando (Atlanta, GA) and Andrew Kovacs (Hopkinton, MA).
 
MIT struck early when Dilin Meloni (Needham, MA) knocked home a cross from Adam Snowdon (Lorton, VA) for his second goal of the season at 13:50.   WPI evened the match just before intermission after Anthony Coutts (Millis, MA) send a header to Mike Montabana (Jamison, PA), who in turn headed the ball into the far corner for his fourth tally of the year with 4:45 to go in the half.
 
The visitors took the lead for good at 66:00 when Asfaw collected a cross by Shikhar Motupally (Avon, CT) that had been deflected by a WPI player and buried it in the back of the net for his first marker of 2024.  Minor put the finishing touches on an MIT playoff spot when he received a pass from Garrett Dyson (South Orange, NJ) and deposited a goal just under the cross bar at 77:16 for his third goal of the year.
 
Hernando Ardila (Miramar, FL) recorded six saves in a winning effort for MIT while Savio Ketnouvong (Paxton, MA) was credited with a pair of stops for the hosts.  Statistically WPI held a 14-11 advantage in shots and doubled up MIT in corners 6-3.  WPI's Fabio Bastida-Andreu (Logroño Spain) led all players with four shots while teammates Aaron Vaz (Medford, MA) and Montabana each chipped in with three shots apiece.
 
MIT will look to clinch a NEWMAC Tournament game when they close out the regular season on Saturday at home versus Wheaton at 2pm.