Field Hockey, Women’s Soccer Defeat Springfield to Win NEWMAC Championships
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The MIT field hockey
and women’s soccer teams made history on Sunday afternoon as
they both defeated Springfield College en route to the
programs’ first NEWMAC Championship titles and NCAA
Tournament appearances. The No. 2-seeded field hockey squad topped
No. 4 Springfield, 4-2, while the No. 3 women’s soccer team
blanked the No. 4 Pride, 1-0.
The fields for both NCAA Championship Tournaments will be announced
on Monday, Nov. 9 at http://www.ncaa.com/.
MIT ended Springfield field hockey’s five-year run as
conference champions while the Engineers denied the Pride soccer
squad an opportunity to earn back-to-back titles.
Women’s soccer did not surrender a goal on its path to the
NEWMAC Championship. The Engineers kicked off the tournament with a
4-0 victory over WPI in
quarterfinal action on Saturday, Oct. 31. The following week, the
Cardinal and Gray blanked No. 2-seeded Wheaton
College, 1-0, before replicating that score in the title game
versus Springfield.
Alisha Lussiez paced MIT’s attack with three goals and an
assist, including the game-winning strikes against Wheaton and
Springfield. Emily Kuo notched a goal and an assist as Liz Theurer
and Connie Park each recorded two assists. In 245 minutes of
action, Meaghan Wright collected 26 saves and two complete-game
shutouts. Katy Olesnavage recorded one save in 25 minutes of play
against WPI.
MIT field hockey began its playoff run on Saturday, Oct. 31 by
defeating Babson
College, 3-0, which avenged a regular-season 3-2 overtime loss.
A week later, the Engineers dismissed No. 6 Mount Holyoke
College, 2-0, in semifinal action. MIT then repeated its
regular-season performance against Springfield
in the championship game.
Kimberly Barker led the Cardinal and Gray with three goals and an assist while Kameron Klauber posted two goals and an assist. Danielle Smith and Anna Teruya each tallied two goals as Molly McShane earned three assists. Nirupama Yechoor contributed an assist while Keri Dixon collected 11 saves throughout the tournament.
