Salem, MA --- WPI's Eli Marden (Shelburne, VT) and Adin Pezo (Everett, MA) connected on a goal in the seventh minute and the Engineers nearly made that hold up, but a successful Salem State penalty kick in the 85th minute resulted in a 1-1 deadlock as the two teams ended their non-conference men's soccer tied Wednesday afternoon.   
 
With the draw, the visiting Engineers see their record move to 4-3-5 overall while the host Vikings, who rescued the late point and have now tied four straight matches, now stand at 5-3-6 on the season.
 
After a shot and a pair of corner kicks for Salem State, WPI jumped in front 1-0 just 6:54 into the match. The Engineers started the scoring sequence with a long throw in and then a cross was attempted and thwarted by the defense, the clear attempt went back to Pezo, who shuffled a pass along to Marden.  The junior shot first touch from just outside the top of the box and rocketed into the bottom right of the goal for the midfielder's first goal of 2025 and third of his career.
 
The Engineers statistically had the better of the action in the opening half, outshooting the hosts 8-2 with all but one of the bids on frame.  SSU goalkeeper Marcelo Silva (Marlboro, MA) was up to the task, recording six saves the rest of half after the early WPI marker.
 
The second half was tightly contested throughout with each team uncorking five shots. The guests appeared poised to grab the road victory but were whistled for a foul at the edge of the box with just 5:36 remaining and Iago De Sousa-Vieira (Medford, MA) calmly stepped up and buried the PK into the left corner for his team-leading 10th marker of the season.  The infraction was one of just three fouls whistled against the Engineers on the day and it was just the first PK the Crimson and Gray had faced in 12 contests this fall.
 
Both teams had chances to claim victory in the final minutes but WPI's Jason Hrkach (Lexington, MA) had his shot blocked with under five minutes to go and in a wild final minute sequence, Silva came all the way out of his goal box to try and score but was denied by his Engineers counterpart Brendan Ross (Winchester, MA).   
 
Ross finished the game with a career-best six stops while was credited with seven saves for the hosts.  For the game, WPI held a slight 13-11 in shots while the Vikings attempted five of the match's six corner kicks.  Hrkach paced all players with four shots off the bench for the Crimson and Gray.
 
Both teams return to conference play on Saturday. WPI entertains NEWMAC foe Springfield at 7pm on Senior Night while ironically Salem State will also be in Worcester the same day to face MASCAC rival Worcester State at noon.