Springfield, MA --- The second seeded Springfield women's soccer came back in the second half to defeat the sixth-seeded WPI in the semifinal round of the NEWMAC Tournament, 3-2, tonight on Brock-Affleck Field.

With the win, the Pride improve to 11-8 overall while the Engineers finish their outstanding season with a record of 11-7-3. The Pride will travel to top-seeded MIT on Saturday, November 8 at 1pm for the championship game of the NEWMAC Tournament. This will mark Springfield's first NEWMAC title match appearance since 2021/

Molly Baxter (Pleasantville, NY), Jessica Perry (Middleboro, MA), and Natalia Mottura (Scarsdale, NY) all scored for Springfield while Kaitlyn Suller (Oviedo, FL), Meredith Healy (Niantic, CT), and Mu Kue (Hartford, CT) notched assists. 

Just nine minutes into the game, Suller sent a pass to Baxter, who launched a shot from outside of the box and buried it in the back of the net to get on the board.

WPI equalized in the 27th minute off a goal from the Engineers' top goal scorer, Abigail Johnson (Middletown, CT) off an outstanding setup from rookie Sera Brunner (Littleton, CO) and then added a goal by Madisen McLeod (Leynard, CT) just six minutes later to take the lead.

In the 62nd minute, Healy sent a ball that hit the crossbar, and Perry was able to put in the rebound to tie up the game.

A little over a minute later, Kue sent a ball in the box on a free kick that was getting kicked around in front of the goal for Mottura to find a way to score the game-winner.  

Springfield outshot WPI 16-11 and led 7-3 on corner kicks. Mairead Marsden (Amsterdam, NY) had six saves in the win while sophomore netminder Ayla Verheul (Naarden, Netherlands) made three stop in net for the Crimson and Gray and head coach Steph Riley-Schafer.  

Release Courtesy NEWMAC/Springfield Sports Information