Wellesley Bested 4-0 by No. 2 MIT in NEWMAC Field Hockey Semifinals

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Wellesley field hockey team fell 4-0 to MIT on Thursday night in the semifinals of NEWMAC Field Hockey Championship. 

No. 3 seeded Blue will end the season at 10-7 overall. The No. 2 seeded Engineers will advance to the conference championship game against the No. 1 seed Babson Beavers on Saturday, November 6 at 1:00 PM. 

Right out of the gate, MIT went on the attack and earned a penalty corner. Senior Lucy Kitch-Peck (Bethlehem, Penn.) netted the game's first goal at the 1:12 mark. The goal came unassisted and was her fifth of the season. Three minute later in the first quarter Ashley Lederman (Villanova, Penn.) added a second goal off an assist by Laura Chen (Califon, N.J.) and gave MIT a 2-0 lead. The Engineers would not be finished in the first half as Erica Radler (Wayne, N.J.) scored her 11th goal of the year and MIT took a 3-0 lead into the break. 

Blue goalkeeper Kyra Deehr-Lewis (Newtown, Penn.) made an impressive eight saves in the third quarter. The Blue fired off just one shot in the quarter by Alex Lenart (Princeton Junction, N.J.) but was saved by MIT's Juliana Strother (Mequon, Wis.). The fourth goal of the contest was scored by Paige Forester (Glencoe, Ill.) towards the end of the third and gave MIT a comfortable 4-0 lead. Wellesley began the fourth period with two consecutive penalty corners. Maddie Bettencourt (Virginia Beach, Va.) had a look but her shot was blocked. The Blue would put up four total shots and earn four penalty corners throughout the night.

MIT will battle Babson in the NEWMAC Field Hockey Championship on Saturday at 1:00 PM.