BOSTON, Mass. (November 4, 2025) – No. 6 seeded Worcester Polytechnic Institute netted a goal in each half and held off a late charge from third-seeded Emerson College to claim a 2-1 victory in quarterfinal round action of the 2025 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Soccer Tournament at Rotch Field tonight.
WPI (11-6-3, 5-4-2 NEWMAC) advances to the semifinal round where it will visit second-seeded Springfield College (10-8-0, 8-3-0 NEWMAC) with a spot in Saturday's NEWMAC Championship on the line on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Pride advanced with a 4-2 win over No. 7 Coast Guard Academy in another quarterfinal matchup tonight. Emerson sees its season draw to a close at 9-6-4 overall, including 7-2-2 in NEWMAC play to qualify for the NEWMAC Tournament for the sixth-straight year and seventh year overall since joining the Conference in 2013.
Junior Maeve Steckley and sophomore Abigail Johnson connected on both WPI goals to lead the Engineers into the semifinals with a goal and assist apiece. Steckley set up Johnson to put WPI in front 10:07 into the match. Steckley doubled the WPI lead with her seventh goal of the year 1:52 into the second half with an assist from Johnson.
Emerson pushed forward to get back into the match and got a goal back in the 80th minute as junior Zoe Simmons netted her third of the season off a long service from the right side by senior Presley King. The goal sparked the Lions and they nearly equalized less than a minute later, but WPI sophomore goalkeeper Ayla Verheul stopped a great bid from first-year Rowan McCrary that appeared ticketed for the top shelf.
Verheul finished with three saves to preserve the win for WPI, while sophomore Hailey Forman posted eight stops in the Emerson goal.
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