Women’s soccer team rolls past Mount Holyoke

Great team effort plays central role in MIT’s dominant performance in its 4-0 victory

By Matthew Noonan Oct. 7, 2014

7018 soccer — Faith C. OBrian ’15 works the ball past a defender during a game against Mount Holyoke College on Saturday afternoon. The Engineers were dominant throughout the game and came away with a 4-0 win to improve to 6-3-2 for the season.
Alexander C. Bost—The Tech

Four different players located the back of the Mount Holyoke College net as the Engineers cruised to a 4-0 victory against the Lyons on Saturday, October 4 at Roberts Field at Steinbrenner Stadium in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play. With the win, the Engineers improve to 6-3-2 overall and 2-0-1 in conference play, while the Lyons fall to 4-7-0 and 0-3-0.

MIT outshot Mount Holyoke, 25-0, and held an advantage in corners, three to one. Mount Holyoke goalkeeper Mackenzie Randall turned away a season-best 12 shots, including eight attempts in the second stanza. Hannah Zlotnick ’17 and Lauren S. Ullmann ’17 both appeared in goal, but neither goalkeeper recorded a single stop.

Kathleen H. Chen ’17 put the Engineers on the board with her second goal of the season at 7:51 in the opening session when she directed a shot to the far post following a header in the box from Ambika M. Krishnamachar ’15. MIT extended its advantage roughly 13 minutes later as Krishnamachar located Olivia M. Struckman ’18 on a rush down the field at 20:36. Struckman collected the pass in the box and fired home her sixth goal of the season.

Krishnamachar scored MIT’s final goal of the first half after collecting a pass from Zara A. Perumal ’16 and dribbling past Mount Holyoke’s defense on the far side at 29:05. Mount Holyoke tried to respond off a corner kick by Ashleigh Hartsock at 31:58, but the Engineers defense denied the potential scoring chance and cleared the ball out of their zone.

MIT took a 3-0 lead into the break, but registered their final goal at 60:45 in the second half when Jennifer R. Ibanez ’15 pounced on a loose ball on the far side of the Mount Holyoke box. Ibanez collected the ball after Randall deflected an attempt by Struckman and directed her shot to the nearside post.

Both teams return to action next Tuesday, October 7 as MIT travels to Wheaton College for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff, while Mount Holyoke hosts Clark University for a 6:00 p.m. start.