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.