Box Score NORTON, Mass. – The Wheaton College women's soccer team advances to the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament Semifinals after defeating the Smith College Pioneers, 2-0, on Tuesday at Mirrione Stadium. No. 2 seed Wheaton will now take on No. 3 Babson College on Saturday.
After this win in the quarterfinals, the Lyons expand to 14-5-2 overall while eliminating Smith. In the 19 seasons with head coach Luis Reis, the Lyons have never lost a NEWMAC tournament game at home, currently bringing that record up to 31-0-3.
"We just love this field," said Reis. "We train on this field, we know this field like the back of our hands. We've carried this tradition for 19 years and we're a tough team to beat at home."
The Lyons spurred action in the sixth minute of play as senior captain Julia Cipriano laid a pass to junior Alexa Sanchez who drilled it in to the center of the net for the first goal of the game. This was Sanchez's second goal of the season and Cirpriano's 10th assist.
"It was a hard fought game," said head coach Reis. "We knew it was going to be a difficult game, they are very well coached… We worked really hard to earn this victory today it was not easy by any means... We had to play well, stay tight, compact and organized and we did that."
Smith would later foul in the second half, giving Cipriano the opportunity to score off a penalty kick at the 58:48 mark. She would tally her 12th goal of the season with this kick that was placed just left of goalkeeper Shelby Hall to bring the score up, 2-0.
"Getting the ball out wide and early crosses were working for us," said senior captain Julie Beyar. "And playing the ball behind their back, it worked for us."
The Pioneers later collected a few shot attempts to cap of the remainder of the game, but Wheaton's defense prevented them from getting on the board.
"Their frontline was great," said junior Brooke Collard. "They kept pressure on us and kept us on our toes, but we came out and we stopped it and we did a good job."
First-year goalkeeper Leann Wolf grabbed her 10th win of the season while sealing two saves for the Lyons in the 90 minutes of action. Wheaton outshot Smith 5-4.
Wheaton will travel to NEWMAC Tournament host, MIT, on Saturday as the Lyons prepare to battle Babson College with game time slated for 1:30 p.m. The winner of this game will advance to the championship round on Sunday.
"We're looking forward to going on the road and doing the best we can," added Reis. "We'll be ready."
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