BOSTON, Mass. (November 4, 2025) – One week after the two sides played to a six-goal thriller in the regular season, junior Nikolas Previte broke a scoreless stalemate in the 93rd minute to lift fifth-seeded Worcester Polytechnic Institute to a 1-0 triumph over fourth-seeded Emerson College in first round action of the 2024 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament at Rotch Field this afternoon.
WPI (7-6-5, 3-4-1 NEWMAC) advances to the NEWMAC semifinals where it will visit top-seeded and No. 8 nationally ranked Wheaton College (14-0-4, 7-0-1 NEWMAC) in Norton, Massachusetts, on Thursday at 2 p.m. Emerson sees its season draw to a close at 6-8-5 overall, including 3-4-1 in the NEWMAC to earn a spot in the Conference tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time since joining the NEWMAC in 2013.
Previte scored the winner 2:37 into overtime with a header at the far post off a cross from the left channel by senior Tora Ito for his third goal of the year. The lone goal was in stark contrast to the six scored in Emerson's 4-2 victory over WPI in Worcester in the penultimate match of the regular season last Wednesday.
Sophomore Savio Ketnouvong made three saves in logging his fifth shutout of the season. First-year Asa Roberts also finished with three stops in goal for Emerson, which also had a team save in the first half when senior Cade Mallett cleared a ball off the line after a rebound that kept the match scoreless at the time.
Emerson's best scoring chance was nullified in the 85th minute by offsides after first-year Alex Lucas had touched in a free kick at the far post.
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