Babson Park, MA --- Fourth-seeded WPI saw its conference title hopes end in a narrow 1-0 defeat to third-seeded Babson in the NEWMAC Men's Soccer Championship on Saturday afternoon at Hartwell-Rogers Field. The Engineers (8-7-5) battled evenly through much of the contest but could not overcome a second-half strike by the Beavers (10-6-4), who claimed their 16th NEWMAC title and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
After a balanced first half that featured just five combined shots, Babson broke the deadlock in the 66th minute. Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Liam Goldstein (Needham, MA) scored the game's lone goal, finishing a feed from
Joao Araujo (Framingham, MA) with an additional assist to
Alexander Yablonovskiy (Newton, MA).
The Engineers created several quality chances in the closing minutes, including efforts from
Adin Pezo (Newton, MA),
Eli Marden (Hollis, NH), and
Brady Burch (Weston, MA), but the Beavers' defense preserved the advantage.
Offensively, Marden and Pezo each registered two shots for WPI, while
Tora Ito (Tokyo, Japan) contributed a pair of corner kicks to spark late opportunities. Burch added one shot on goal, and
Erol Gumus (Franklin, MA) chipped in two attempts off the bench.
In goal,
Savio Ketnouvong (Pawtucket, RI) recorded four saves on five shots faced to keep the Engineers within striking distance. For Babson,
JB Montague (Westfield, NJ) turned away all four shots on target to earn the clean sheet.
The Beavers now hold a 44-9-7 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 1974 and are unbeaten in their last nine meetings (4-0-5) with WPI since 2018. Saturday's final was the fourth NEWMAC title match between the programs since 2014 and the first held in Babson Park since 2009.
Additionally, WPI's
Floris Huiskers (Amsterdam, Netherlands) was named the recipient of the Laurels of Academic Excellence, awarded to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the championship site. The senior goalkeeper carries a 4.0 GPA, majoring in Mathematical Sciences.
Babson earns the NEWMAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship and will learn its opponent during Monday's selection show on Monday at 11:30am. WPI concludes the campaign with its second trip to the conference final in the last three seasons.
