Springfield, MA ---
Maeve Steckley (Rochester, NY) and
Abigail Johnson (Middletown, CT) collected second half goals and netminders
Ayla Verheul (Naarden, The Netherlands) and
Maya Mussel (Oxford, CT) teamed up for a second clean sheet in as many days as WPI blanked host Western New England 2-0 in a non-conference women's soccer match played later Saturday afternoon in Western Mass.
WPI, which defeated Union 1-0 just 24 hours earlier on Friday, is already 2-0 in 2025, while the Golden Bears, who have posted double digit win totals the last four years, where making their season debut.
The Engineers played a scoreless first half for the second consecutive day and were outshot 7-5 in the opening 45 minutes. However, despite playing yesterday and facing a rest Golden Bears squad on Saturday, the Crimson and Gray delivered a second half performance that saw the guests record 13 of second stanza's 20 shots. Steckley broke up the 0-0 tie just after a throw in when she netted her 13th career marker off a feed from rookie
Aliza Margolis (Wakefield, MA) at 69:27. The assist was the rookie's first career point.
WPI put the game away in the 87th minute when Johnson netted her initial goal of 2025, and fifth of her career with
Reese Pszenny (Danvers, MA) and Steckley credited assists on the marker at 86:06. The Crimson and Gray were not challenged the rest of the way as they did allow a shot in the final 3:54, with three shots of their own, including a Steckley that hit the post.
The duo of
Verheul and
Mussel split the game in net again for the Engineers, with Verheul making a save in the first half and Mussel earning the victory after a pair of second half stops.
Ainsley Napolitano (Andover, MA) turned away seven shots in net for the hosts. The guests outshot the Golden Bears 18-14 on the day with Steckley accounting for half of WPI's shots.
WPI closes out a three-game opening game road trip on Tuesday when its visits No. 6 Amherst for a 7pm match-up. Western New England faces its second of three straight NEWMAC opponents to open the season on Wednesday when they make the short trip across the city to face Springfield at 4pm.
