Engineers Fall to Wheaton, 2-1

Courtesy of Wheaton College Sports Information

NORTON, Mass. – Christian Therkelsen provided MIT’s lone goal in a 2-1 loss to regionally-ranked Wheaton College in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men’s soccer game. The Lyons, who are receiving national votes and ranked fourth in the region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), extended their winning streak to four games in improving to 15-3-1 overall and 4-1 in the league. The loss lowered the Engineers’ ledger to 8-7 on the year and 2-3 in the NEWMAC.

Wheaton dominated play throughout, holding advantages of 12-4 in shots and 7-3 in corner kicks. Josh Solomon and Cecil Jeffrey earned assists on Max Swanson's pair of goals, while goalie Cole Davidson had no saves in the win. Therkelsen scored his goal off of a penalty kick, and Dylan Rankin turned aside one Lyon shot in just over 81 minutes of play.

The hosts took nine of the game's 10 first-half shots, including on Swanson's initial tally at 10:08. Solomon dribbled past an Engineer defender from the right flank and toward the end line before finding a charging Swanson on the near post. Swanson slid in to get a piece of the ball and pushed it to the far left corner of the net.

Swanson picked up the winner 5:20 into the second half. The play started with Jeffrey just inside the left sideline. With his back to the field and an MIT player behind him, Jeffrey kept possession on a few touches without the ball hitting the ground before sending a cross to the middle of the box to Swanson, who fought off a defender to get to the ball first for the finish.

With only two shots to show for nearly the first 73 minutes, the Engineers doubled their attempts within seconds, as a shot by Ben Lewis was heading toward the upper left corner of the goal before a Wheaton player intentionally hit the ball with his hands to force a penalty kick, which Therkelsen converted at 72:55. However, the Lyon defense held strong and kept MIT from getting off another attempt the rest of the way.