BOSTON, Mass. (November 1, 2025) – Emerson College clinched homefield advantage for the first round of next week's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament despite a 3-0 setback to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a NEWMAC men's soccer matchup on Senior Day at Rotch Field this afternoon.
Emerson finished the regular season in a three way tie for fourth in the NEWMAC standings with ten points, along with Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Springfield College, after WPI posted a 1-0 win over Salve Regina University and Springfield was dealt a 5-0 defeat by regular season champions and No. 8 Wheaton College today. The Lions cliched the tiebreaker over the other two by way of its 1-0 win over second-seeded Babson College after the three all finished 1-1 against one another in the regular season. Emerson will host WPI for a NEWMAC Tournament first round clash on Tuesday at Rotch Field at 1 p.m., for the right to advance to Thursday's NEWMAC semifinal at top-seeded Wheaton
Prior to this afternoon's match, Emerson took a moment to honor its three seniors playing in its final regular season home match. Postgrad Dominic Reiter and seniors Kyler Maira and Cade Mallett have played a key role in a Lions program that has earned a spot in the NEWMAC Tournament in consecutive years for the first time in program history.
Junior Paolo Mangiafico preserved the fourth clean sheet for MIT this season with nine saves, marking his third shutout of the season. First-year Asa Roberts finished with two stops in goal for Emerson.
After a scoreless first half, MIT grabbed the lead 2:10 into the second half with sophomore Shikhar Motupally's fifth goal of the season when he broke in one on one with Roberts and slotted the ball into the right corner. The Engineers sealed the win by way of the spot kick as senior Ethan Reich and postgrad Ethan Stone Perez each converted penalty kicks in the 60th and 85th minutes, respectively.
Up Next
No. 4 Emerson (6-7-5, 3-4-1 NEWMAC) will host No. 5-seeded WPI in first round action of the 2025 NEWMAC Tournament at Rotch Field on Tuesday at 1 p.m. The winner will advance to face top-seeded and No. 8-ranked Wheaton College in the NEWMAC semifinals on Thursday. MIT sees its 2025 season end on a winning note, snapping its five-match skein to finish at 4-9-4 overall, including 2-5-1 in NEWMAC play.
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