Late Rally Falls Short as WPI Falls 2-1 to Wheaton
Worcester, MA --- Freshman Luke Finkelstein (Peabody, MA) doled out a pair of assists to propel Wheaton to a 2-1 victory over host WPI in a key NEWMAC men's soccer contest on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Lyons inch over the .500 mark at 7-6-2 overall while staying in contention for the conference regular season title with a 3-1 league record. WPI is now 8-4 on the season and 2-2 in NEWMAC play.
After the start of the game was delayed 40 minutes due to lighting during the beginning of pregame warm-ups, Wheaton dented the scoring column 10:35 into the match when Howard Manly (Ayer, MA) headed Finkelstein's corner kick into the far corner for his first goal of the season.
The Lyons extended the advantage to 2-0 in the opening minutes of the second half as Will Nesbitt (Holliston, MA) took a feed from Finkelstein and buried a low-liner to the far post for his team-leading eighth goal of the year at 49:15.
WPI slashed the gap in half at 83:26 when Chris Ciampa (Danvers, MA) calmly connected on a penalty kick after a Wheaton foul in the box. The Engineers kept the pressure on for the remaining six minutes but were unable to muster a shot on goal the rest of the way.
Devin Delfino (Bourne, MA) made two stops en route to picking up the win in net for the Lyons. The visitors were aided defensively when Marlon Ramalho (Framingham, MA) made a tremendous play when he cleared a shot by Eric Crevoiserat (Glastonbury, CT) off the goal line in the 38th minute. Jeff Wong (Millington, MA) registered five saves for WPI.
Wheaton held a slim 12-11 in edge in shots during the tightly-contested affair while both teams attempted three corner kicks.
In a scheduling oddity, both teams next host non-conference matchups with MASCAC opponents on Wednesday. WPI plays the middle match of a three-game home stand when it entertains Mass Maritime at 7pm while Wheaton welcomes Southeastern Mass rival Bridgewater State to Norton for a 4pm showdown.
