Sports Shorts
Women’s Cross Country Collects Best Finish Ever at All-New England Meet
The MIT women’s cross country team entered this past weekend with its highest national ranking in program history, as it rose to No. 4 in all of Division III. Competing against the tops teams in New England from across all Divisions, the Engineers more than lived up to their ranking, finishing fourth as a team. Jacqueline M. Wentz ‘10 led the way for the Cardinal and Grey with a third-place finish, the best individual result in Institute history at the All-New England Meet.
A pair of Division I runners were the only competitors to complete the Franklin Park course faster than Wentz, who set a new program standard at the Engineers’ home venue with her time of 18:06. Maria J. Monks ‘10 also landed in the top 20, just the fifth such occurrence for MIT, with a time of 18:24. Alina E. Gatowski ‘11 (18:48) finished 47th overall. A pair of freshman were the final scoring harriers for Tech, as Melissa A. Showers ‘13 (19:01) came home in 63rd and Brooke C. Johnson ‘13 (84th) broke the tape in 19:17.
The Cardinal and Grey totaled 217 points for the best team result ever in this meet. The Engineers’ previous best was a sixth-place showing in 2007. Brown won the meet with 130 points.
MIT will be back in action next weekend at the Plansky Invitational at Williams College on Saturday, October 17.
—Greg McKeever, DAPER Staff
Women’s Soccer Holds Strong for 2-1 Win over Wellesley
MIT’s women’s soccer took on the squad from Wellesley College in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup this weekend at Roberts Field. While Wellesley controlled most of the second-half action, the Engineers held on for a 2-1 victory.
In the 17th minute, MIT’s Lauren R. Hernley ’11 sent a pass through two Wellesley defenders to find Jean E. “Liz” Theurer 10 open on the other side. Wellesley keeper Katie Martore charged out of the goal to break up the charge, but Theurer’s loft sent the ball just out of Martore’s reach and bouncing into the goal.
The Engineers opened up the lead in the 37th minute. Collecting a pass from Kathryn A. Pesce 10, Alisha D. Lussiez 12 broke from the defense and rushed the goal, again forcing Martore to step away from the net. Martore barely missed Lussiez’s shot which caught the inside of the right post and bounced into the net.
Wellesley applied strong pressure at the end of the first half and carried that momentum coming out of the break. They controlled much of the early second half and in the 60th minute, Chelsea-Ann Patry’s pass found senior Catherine Caruso open in the penalty area. Caruso fired a blast from ten yards past goalie Katy Olesnavage 11 to close the gap to 2-1.
Wellesley, backed by a vocal contingent of spectators, kept pressure on MIT, but was unable to capitalize on any other chances. For Olesnavage, the match marked her first full game for the Engineers and her second win of the season. Wellesley’s Martore tallied six saves on the game but suffered her first conference loss.
MIT (6-4-1, 2-1-1 NEWMAC) travels to New Haven, Connecticut to face the United States Coast Guard Academy in its next game on Tuesday, October 13.
—Paul Blascovich, DAPER Staff