![\"Springfield\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Springfield.png\")
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Next Game:<\/p>\n
at Springfield<\/p>\n
11\/6\/2025 | 7:00 PM<\/p>\n
\n Nov. 06 (Thu) \/ 7:00 PM
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\n at\u00a0Springfield
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Boston, MA — Maeve Steckley<\/a> (Rochester, MA) and Abigail Johnson<\/a> (Middletown, CT) each recorded a goal and an assist to lift sixth-seeded and visiting WPI to a 2-1 triumph over third-seeded Emerson in a NEWMAC Women’s Soccer Tournament quarterfinal contest played Wednesday on Rotch Field in Boston. With the win, WPI moves to 11-6-3 on the season and advances to the NEWMAC Tournament semifinals for the fifth time in the last nine seasons of competition for 13-year head coach Steph Riley-Schafer<\/a>, including the last two with co-head coach Melissa Hart<\/a> alongside on the touchline.\u00a0 Emerson completes its season with a 9-7-4 record.
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\nThe Crimson and Gray followed a similar path last year, falling to the Lions in the regular season (2-1 in Worcester on October 22nd) before capturing the rematch in the postseason less than two weeks later on Emerson’s home field in the NEWMAC Tournament (1-0 in semifinals).\u00a0 Furthermore, the Engineers will now travel to second-seeded Springfield, a 4-2 winner tonight over seventh-seeded Coast Guard, on Thursday in a 7pm semifinal matchup.\u00a0 WPI fell to the Pride in mid-October, like they did in 2024 before upsetting SC in the NEWMAC quarterfinals a season ago.<\/p>\n
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\nAfter not denting the scoring column until the 70th minute in the matchup two weeks ago, WPI struck at the 10:07 mark on Tuesday.\u00a0 The buildup began with Katie Adiletta<\/a> (Bolton, MA) obtaining possession for the Boynton Hillers near midfield.\u00a0 The sophomore connected with forward with Madison Shaw<\/a> (Cheshire, MA), who sent it to a right-to left-cutting Steckley.\u00a0 The playmaking forward sent a streaking Johnson a nifty pass toward the left side of the goal and the junior tucked it past the Emerson goalie for her team-leading eighth goal of the year and put the guests ahead 1-0.
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\nThe Engineers got off to an even quicker start in the second half.\u00a0 A pair of quick passes found the ball on Johnson’s foot on the left side at midfield and the junior returned the favor from earlier when she sent a beautiful ball between two defenders and onto the foot of Steckley who continuing sprinting towards a charging goalie and deposited the ball just to the left of the Emerson netminder and into the goal for her seventh tally of 2025 just 1:52 into the second stanza.
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\nThe two squads would settle in for the next half hour with neither team having the better of the action until Emerson began a surge in the final 12 minutes.\u00a0 Rowan McCrary (Saratoga, CA) found a cross in the middle of the box and had unleashed a strong shot but hit the right post with 11:44 to go.\u00a0 The Lions continued to pressure and were rewarded about 90 seconds later when Presley King (Lake Forest, CA) dropped a pass from the right side into the box where it was collected by Zoe Simmons (Los Angles, CA) and the junior, who was tightly-guard and was knocked off-balance but able to knock the ball past an outstretched WPI goalie for Simmons’ third goal of the season.\u00a0
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\nNow trailing 2-1 with under 10 minutes to go, Emerson’s best chance to equalize would be its very next chance and again, the hosts found themselves unlucky.\u00a0 Kaylin O’Meara (Littleton, MA) collected a loose ball on the upper corner of the right box and send a lovely high-arching that WPI goalie Ayla Verheul<\/a> (Naarden, Netherlands) made a great effort to deflect into the upper right of the goal post and out of play for a corner and deny the rookie the tying goal a it proved to the Lions last shot of the night.
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\nVerheul () registered three saves in a winning effort in net for the Engineers while Emerson’s Hailey Forman (Saratoga, CA) was credited with eight stops in a strong effort for the hosts.
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\nOn the night, WPI held a 16-11 edge on shots (10-4 on goal) while Emerson attempted four of the match’s five corners.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Next Game: at Springfield 11\/6\/2025 | 7:00 PM
Nov. 06 (Thu) \/ 7:00 PM
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