CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's soccer team was defeated by No. 5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5-1, in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play this afternoon at Steinbrenner Stadium in Cambridge, Mass. The Lyons fall to 5-3-2 overall and suffer their first loss in NEWMAC play, dipping to 1-1-1, while the Engineers remain unbeaten this year a 11-0-1 and 3-0-0. 

MIT outshot Wheaton, 13-2, and held a 4-1 margin on corner kicks.

The Engineers scored three goals in less than 17 minutes to take a 3-0 lead early in the first half. MIT got on the board just 2:12 into the game when junior Kaitlin Zareno (Montebello, Calif.) took a long outlet pass from senior Karenna Groff (Weston, Mass.) and went one-on-one with the Lyons' goalie, before scoring to put the Engineers up 1-0.

MIT scored twice in the next 10 minutes with the first strike coming at 6:34 as Groff took a pass from senior Grace Xiong (Princeton, N.J.) and deposited a shot into the left side to make it 2-0. Groff caused a Wheaton turnover and found junior Stephanie Howe (Geneva, Ill.) who put into the left side of the net to give the Engineers a 3-0 lead at 16:44.

Groff factored into the fourth goal as well, adding her second goal of the game at 28:29 after taking a pass from Howe and tucked the ball into the far post to put MIT up 4-0.

Wheaton broke through in the 61st minute when senior midfielder Chloe Troy (Wethersfield, Conn.) took a crossing pass from senior midfielder Jaime Rattenni (West Greenwich, R.I.) in traffic in front of the goal and snuck the ball into the back of the net for her fifth goal of the season. The tally pulled the Lyons to within 4-1 and also marked the first goal given up by the Engineers at home this season.

MIT responded at 66:39 as sophomore Meagan Rowlett (Dana Point, Calif.) took advantage of a misplay in front of the net and scored the walk-in goal to make the score 5-1.

Wheaton sophomore keeper Gabby Marcus (Austin, Texas) stopped three of eight shots in 74:01 of action, before yielding to senior keeper Kaitlin Gossart (Durham, Conn.), who turned away all three shots she faced in the final 15:59 of action. Junior Ava Gillikin (Flemington, N.J.) and junior Lauren Castle (Ridgefield, Conn.) each played a half for the Engineers with Gillikin allowing a goal in the opening session and Castle making the only save for MIT on the day.

Wheaton returns to the pitch on Wednesday, October 6 when it hosts Worcester Polytechnic Institute at Mirrione Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. NEWMAC match, while the Engineers head to nearby Babson Park, Mass. against Babson College on the same day at the same time.