Women's Soccer Eliminated in Heartbreaking NEWMAC Semifinal

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Second-seeded Babson College converted its first four penalty kick opportunities to advance past third-seeded MIT in the semifinal round of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Soccer Tournament at Springfield College on Saturday. The contest officially ended in a 0-0 double-overtime tie, with Babson moving on in PKs.

Meghan Wright ended a spectacular season by improving on her school record with her 13th shutout. Wright made five saves in the game and again was helped by the effort of a phenomenal back-line that had a lot to do with a season that saw MIT give up only 7 goals, fewest in school history.

Junior goalie Lisa Wojnar made13 saves for Babson, including two huge stops in the closing minutes of the second overtime. The Engineers held a 19-10 shot advantage in the contest, as well as a 7-2 edge in corner kicks.

Babson shot first in the penalty kick phase, with sophomore Emily Anderson converting her team's the first attempt. Wojnar then came up with a gigantic save on MIT's first bid, by senior captain Lauren Hernley.

The two teams traded their next three attempts, with first-year Carley Martyniak, first-year Meghan Andrew, and sophomore Amy Festa scoring for the Beavers. For MIT, Emily Kuo, Alisha Lussiez, and Andrea Park all found the net, as Babson took a 4-3 lead into the final round.

Wright kept MIT's hopes alive, as she saved a shot by Babson senior captain Patty Pytlik. However, MIT midfielder Merricka Livingstone's shot at the lower right-hand corner ricocheted off the post, giving the Beavers the penalty kick win and sending them into the championship round.

MIT sees their season come to an end with a 13-3-3 record, the best mark of any women's soccer team in school history. Tech was 8-1-1 at home and 6-2-1 in NEWMAC play.

Babson, now 11-6-2 on the year, will play top-seeded Springfield in Sunday's NEWMAC championship game at 1 p.m. It will be the Beaver's first trip to the league finals since 2007.

Parts of this story courtesy of Springfield Sports Information