WORCESTER -- Facing elimination and perhaps the final game of their collegiate careers, seniors Fabio Bastida-Andreu (Logroño Spain) and Evan Haas (Concord, NH) connected on a goal with 21:52 remaining to cap a highlight a frantic second half as WPI qualified for next week's NEWMAC Men's Soccer Tournament with a hard-earned 1-0 victory over visiting Salve Regina on a windy Saturday afternoon on H. Carr Field.
 
The Engineers, who could only qualify for the six-team NEWMAC Tournament with a victory, see their overall record even at 6-6-5 and finish with a 3-4-1 mark in conference play.  The 10 points ties WPI for fourth place in the nine-team conference with Emerson and Springfield.  The three teams all went 1-1 in games amongst each other with Emerson earning the fourth seed because of their victory over second-seeded Babson with WPI claiming the fifth seed over Springfield by virtue of its 3-2 win over the Pride two weeks ago. 
 
WPI will head to Emerson on Tuesday for a 1pm quarterfinal with the winner advancing to face top-seeded Wheaton on Thursday in the semifinals.  Sixth-seeded Springfield will travel to third-seeded Coast Guard in the league's other quarterfinal tilt with winner moving on to take on second-seeded Babson in the other semifinal on Thursday.
 
Salve Regina, which would have qualified for the tournament and eliminated WPI with a win or a tie, sees its season come to an end with a 6-4-6 mark and a 2-3-3 record in NEWMAC action.

More coming soon