BABSON PARK, Mass. - The third-seeded Wheaton College field hockey team wasn't able to recover from an early 3-0 deficit to number-two Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during its 6-1 loss in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinal round on Saturday at Babson College's MacDowell Field.
Wheaton, which fell two wins shy of a school record, finished its season with a 13-8 mark. The Lyons competed in the semifinal round for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Now 15-3, MIT advances to tomorrow's championship game to face top-seeded Babson.
Junior Emily Asack (Stoughton, Mass./Stoughton), who set program marks for goals and assists during Tuesday's first-round win over Clark University, made the score 3-1 in the 20th minute, but her goal proved to be Wheaton's only tally. Freshman goalie Ellie Massengill (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional) finished with four saves.
MIT junior Kameron Klauber (Carlsbad, Calif./Carlsbad) notched a hat trick, including scoring the winner, with one assist, while sophomore Molly McShane (Lake Bluff, Ill./Los Altos) added a pair of helpers. Senior keeper Keri Dixon (Bethlehem, Pa./Singapore American) accounted for two stops.
Klauber played a hand in MIT's first three goals over a 3:35 span, first assisting a teammate at 9:01 before recording back-to-back tallies just 1:16 apart. Asack converted a feed from junior Bonnie Davies (Roxbury, Conn./Shepaug Valley) at 19:23, but the Engineers scored at 22:32 to take a comfortable 4-1 advantage into halftime.
Klauber made the score 5-1 with her third goal 7:53 into the second half before another Engineer found the back of the cage with 4:42 remaining to complete the scoring. Wheaton finished with an 11-5 advantage on penalty corners, while MIT held a 16-9 edge in shots.
