Women’s teams win NEWMACs
Field Hockey, Soccer teams both earn victories in extra time
The MIT Field Hockey and Women’s Soccer teams won their NEWMAC championships this past Sunday — both in dramatic fashion, and both for the second time in the past three years.
The MIT Field Hockey team (17-3), which finished the regular season ranked first in conference, earned the right to host this year’s tournament. After an 8-2 semifinal win over Springfield College on Saturday, MIT took on Mount Holyoke in the final. Despite multiple scoring chances for both sides, the first half ended with the score 0-0. Fifteen minutes into the first half, Mount Holyoke scored to take a 1-0 lead. Mount Holyoke held on to the lead until the final minutes, when, with just under a minute and half left to play, Anna H. Teruya ’12 found Molly E. McShane ’13, who scored and sent the game into overtime. In overtime, Teruya scored the winning goal to give MIT the title and a spot in the NCAA Division III tournament for the second time in program history.
The MIT Women’s Soccer team (14-3-3) entered the NEWMAC tournament ranked third in the conference, but defeated Wellesley in the first round of the tournament. The team also beat No. 2 ranked Wheaton in the semifinal to take on No. 1 ranked Springfield College in the final. Springfield scored the first goal of the game in the 42nd minute, but MIT bounced back in the second half when finally, in the 83rd minute, Samantha A. Fleischmann ’14 scored the equalizing goal to send the game into overtime. Neither team was able to score in two period of overtime, and thus the game was decided by a penalty shootout, where MIT came out on top 4-3. The victory also earned the Women’s Soccer team a spot in the NCAA Division III tournament for the second time in three years.
The last time both the Field Hockey and Women’s Soccer teams won NEWMAC titles was in 2009 when both teams defeated Springfield College. Be sure to cheer on both teams as they enter their respective NCAA tournaments.