Cambridge, MA --- Despite a goal by three-seeded WPI early in the fourth quarter, two-seeded and nationally ranked No. 17 MIT held on for a 2-1 victory in the semifinals of the NEWMAC Championship on Thursday night at Jack Barry Field. Junior
Bailey McIntyre (Concord, MA) and senior
Eva Oppenheim (Tiburon, CA) scored for MIT while graduate student
Samantha Robison (Wrentham, MA) provided the lone marker for WPI.
With the victory, MIT is now 13-3 overall and advances to its eighth straight NEWMAC Championship, Saturday at top-seeded and No. 7 Babson at 1pm. WPI, which was appearing in it fifth consecutive NEWMAC semifinal and third straight versus MIT, completes its season with a 12-7 mark
MIT controlled the action in the first half as it generated seven shots on goal and was awarded 11 penalty corners before getting on the scoreboard with 6:34 left in the second quarter. During its seventh penalty corner of the frame, McIntyre sent a blast from the top of the arc that was set up by senior
Alice Zehner (Gladwyne, PA).
WPI's first chances to tie the score came on shots by fifth-year
Lauren Meinhold (Boxboro, MA) and graduate student
Emily Sollecito (Bedford, MA) during penalty corners in the 41st minute, however, sophomore goalie
Maeve Zimmer (Rockville, MD) stopped both attempts.
MIT increased its advantage to 2-0 just 53 seconds into the fourth quarter. A pass from junior
Marisa Montione(Charlotte, NC) from outside the circle made its way through traffic and deflected off Oppenheim's stick to the far post.
WPI ended the shutout less than two minutes later. During a penalty corner that saw a blocked shot and a save by Zimmer, first-year
Emma Barton (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) collected the rebound sent a pass towards the far post where Robison quickly hit it to the near post.
Following a pair of penalty corners by MIT, WPI registered three penalty corners and three shots (one on goal, two blocked) but the visitors could not tally the equalizer.
Zimmer finished with four saves while senior
Ella Moreau (Huntington, MA) collected eight saves for Worcester's Engineers. MIT led the way in shots (17-8), shots on goal (10-5), and penalty corners (16-6).
Majority of Release Courtesy MIT Sports Information
