WORCESTER -- Maeve Steckley (Rochester, NY) tallied a pair of goals 3:02 apart in the final eight minutes to snap a 3-3 tie and propel WPI women's soccer to an wild-entertaining 5-3 victory over host Worcester State as the two city rivals squared off in a non-conference affair late Saturday afternoon on Coughlin Field.
 
The Engineers improve to 3-2 on the year with the victory while the Lancers dip to 1-3 in 2024.
 
The match started a frantic pace with both teams netting goals within the first four minutes on their respective second shots. The host Lancers dented the scoring column first, when Ava Chevalier (Brimfield, MA) netted her first career goal unassisted just 2:34 in only to see WPI answer back 70 seconds later when Steckley knocked home a corner kick by Madisyn Bagby (Aurora, CO).
 
WPI had the better of the action the rest of the way in the first half and were rewarded when Reese Pszenny (Danvers, MA) banged home a feed from Olivia Toolin (Bedford, NH) at 27:08 to put the Engineers ahead 2-1.  Over the first 45 minutes, the guests outshot Worcester State 11-6 and attempted four of the first half's five corners.
 
For as wild as the opening few minutes was, that took a backseat to the final 12 minutes.  It looked as if WPI had put the game in the 79th minute when Pszenny feed Mia Gilmore (Canton, MA) for the senior's fourth career tally at 78:35 to make it 3-1 but Worcester State's Ava Lemanski (Clinton, MA) said not so fast as she rattled off a pair of goals 2:03 apart to tie the game 3-3 with just over eight minutes remaining.
 
But from that point forward it was the Steckley show as she ripped in an unassisted goal at 83:24 to put the Crimson and Gray up for good and then put the game on ice and completed her first career hat trick following an assist from Delaney Mohl (Hopewell Junction, NY) at 87:26 to secure the 5-3 road triumph for the Engineers.  The sophomore now has three goals on the season and six in her career.
 
Lili Hellerman (Ashland, MA) earned the win in net for the visitors, recording four stops on the afternoon. Ella Gumienny (Douglas, MA) was strong on goal for the Lancers, posting a career-best 10 saves.  The Engineers ended the match with a 25-11 advantage in shots and a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
 
WPI's next match is Wednesday at home at 7pm against UMass Dartmouth while Worcester State heads to Keene State for a 6pm contest on Wednesday.