CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team was defeated by host Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3-1, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Jack Barry Field in Cambridge, Mass.
The Lyons dip to 8-6 overall and 3-3 in conference action, while the Engineers win their fifth in a row and six of their last seven games to improve to 9-5 and a perfect 6-0 in NEWMAC play.
MIT dominated play, owning a 31-4 shot advantage, including 23-4 in shots on frame. The Engineers boasted a 17-2 margin in penalty corners as well.
Despite the shot disparity, it was senior goalie Grace Ferguson (Williston, Vt.), who kept Wheaton in the game with a career-high 18 saves. Senior forward Hannah Fortin (South Dartmouth, Mass.) scored the lone goal for the Lyons.
Senior midfielder Ingrid Tomovski (Bosch en Duin, Netherlands) scored a pair of markers to lead MIT. Sophomore keeper Alexia Ninios (London, England) stopped three shots in cage for the home team.
Wheaton got on the board when senior midfielder Ally Slicer (Waterford, Maine) sent a cross from well outside the arc to Fortin, who received the ball in the goal mouth, before sending a shot inside the left post for her ninth goal of the season just 3:57 into the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 3-1. The score gives her a marker in four consecutive games for the longest goal-scoring streak since Lydia Gaudreau '25 tallied at least one goal in four straight contests from September 5-14, 2023.
Following a scoreless first quarter, the Engineers got on the board first midway through the second period. Tomovski carried the ball just past the arc and fired a backhanded shot on the ground that squirted under the reach of Ferguson for a 1-0 edge with 7:50 to go in the quarter.
MIT added two more markers, within a span of 3:05, coming in the first five minutes of the third quarter of play. Tomovski doubled the home team's goal total just 93 seconds into the second half when she possessed the ball inside the arc, whirled around with the ball, before firing a shot inside the right post for her ninth goal of the season and her second multi-goal effort in as many games. The Engineers added an insurance tally off a penalty corner just over three minutes later to take a 3-0 advantage. Sophomore forward Meredith Wu (Southborough, Mass.) sent the insert pass to senior forward Janie Thomas (Houston, Texas), who fired a rocket from the left side of the arc that deflected off a Lyon defender's stick and into the back of the cage with 10:22 showing on the third quarter clock.
Wheaton's defense took center stage for the final 24:38 of play, denying 17 MIT shots, including 10 saves from Ferguson and a defensive save each from sophomore defender Carys Mitchell (Holderness, N.H.) and senior defender Maddie LaBreck (Rollinsford, N.H.).
The Lyons return to the turf on Tuesday, October 20 when they host NEWMAC rival Salve Regina University on Nordin Field at 7:00 p.m., while the Engineers welcome Worcester Polytechnic Institute to their confines on the same night at 6:00 p.m.
