WORCESTER -- Ayla Verheul (Naarden, The Netherlands) only made two saves but made a diving stop with 3:38 remaining to preserve WPI's 1-0 victory over visiting Wellesley in a NEWMAC women's soccer contest of teams with identical 3-1-1 conference records on Wednesday evening at Alumni Stadium.
 
WPI, which it ranked fifth in the most recent United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III Region II rankings, has now won two straight 1-0 decisions and improves to 9-3-2 overall and 4-1-1 in conference action.  The Engineers sit in fourth place in the 12-team conference, three points ahead of Wellesley for the fourth seed in next month's NEWMAC Tournament.  The Blue dip to 6-5-2 on the season and 3-2-1 in NEWMAC action.
 
The Engineers kickstarted the offense early as five different members of the Crimson and Gray registered shots within the first 15:10 of the contest forcing Wellesley's Riley McNair (Cupertino, CA) to make three saves.
 
WPI accounted for the only goal of match early in the 18th when Abigail Johnson (Middletown, MA) attempted a through ball from the right side to the center but went past an Engineers attacker and the ball was attempted to be played back to the Blue goalkeeper but drifted into the goal by a Wellesley defender. 
 
At 18:08, Wellesley's Reika Ishibe (Guilford, CT) fired a shot back at WPI but was just off the mark. Maeve Steckley (Rochester, NY), Caila Scully (Merrimack, NH) and Madisen McLeod (Ledyard, CT) rattled off shots on frame that were all steered clear by the Blue. Grace Westmoreland (Raleigh, NC) fired the next strike on target from the far-right side but was corralled by Verheul to keep the Blue off the board heading into the break.
 
The Engineers kept the offense rolling with eight second half shots with four making it on goal.   Wellesley nearly tied it with under four minutes to go but Elina Saab-Sunden's (Palo Alto, CA) one-touch shot from point blank range was smothered by a diving Verheul.  In the waning seconds, Caetlyn Embree (Sherborn, MA) cleaned up after a corner kicker opportunity bending a shot to the left side of the goal and Steckley dribbled by multiple defenders as she fired off a solid strike in the final minute in attempt to extend the lead. 
 
The Crimson and Gray enjoyed an advantage in shots (21-6) and shots on goal (12-2) along with a 7-1 margin in corner kicks opportunities. Steckley was a force offensively totaling four shots on target in the victory.   Verheul steered away both shots faced on the evening in the win as McNair totaled 11 saves setback.


Both teams hit the road of their next match on Saturday.   WPI ventures to Western Mass to take on Springfield at 1pm in a rematch from a NEWMAC Quarterfinal contest last while Wellesley heads to Rhode Island to battle Salve Regina at noon.