The first quarter did not start too well as Rensselaer scored on its first two possessions to take a 14-0 lead. It wasn't until midway through the second quarter that the Engineers got on the board with a 1-yard touchdown run by Mike Godfrey. WPI then recovered a muffed punt which they converted to another solid drive, capped off by a 20-yard scoring run by Ernie Ansah. The extra point was good and the score was tied 14-14. Rensselaer was driving as the half was nearing the end, when on a third down play, Brian Learned intercepted a pass and returned it 79 yards for a touchdown to give the Engineers the lead at the half 21-14.
In the third quarter, neither offense could sustain a drive as both defenses controlled the tempo. It wasn't until late in the quarter that Rensselaer capitalized on a WPI miscue. RPI recovered a fumble and on the very next play scored on an 87-yard run. The extra point was mishandled and the score remained 21-20. In the fourth quarter the WPI defense came up big on three series of downs as they held Rensselaer on downs to secure the win.
Starting his first game for WPI, sophomore quarterback Nate Cote directed the offense to 416 yards of total offense. Alone he had 196 yards passing and 44 yards rushing as he was selected to the ECAC weekly honor roll and chosen as the Freedom Football Conference rookie of the week. Learned had an outstanding game for his third consecutive week as he registered 11 tackles, 1 fumble recovery and 1 pass break-up. His performance landed him on the ECAC honor roll as well as being the FFC defensive player of the week and selection as the Gold Helmet winner in Division II/III.
They played to a scoreless first half against undefeated MIT, who was also the defending conference champion. In the second half the action picked up as all the scoring happened in a span of 12 minutes. MIT got on the board first when they scored five minutes into the half. WPI battled back to tie the score nine minutes later on a goal by Heather Bryer. Unfortunately, MIT scored the go ahead goal two minutes later and held on to win the game. Engineer goalkeeper Lyn Dubois played a tremendous game in goal despite the loss. She made 22 saves and kept WPI in the game.
Last Tuesday, the Engineers evened up their conference record when they went on the road to defeat Mount Holyoke. They got a pair of goals from Tracy Langis and another steady performance in goal by Dubois. Bryer assisted on both goals and Jen Adams assisted on Langis' first goal.
In the match versus MIT and Tufts, the Engineers were not able to crack 90 as they scored 467 as a team and finished behind the two schools. Low scorer for WPI was Jeff Peterson with a score of 90.
Last Wednesday, WPI hosted RIC and Anna Maria at Holden Hills. The Engineers had an outstanding day as all golfers scored in the 80's with one, Mike Willock, scoring a 75 to lead the Engineers to a victory and a team score of 322. Helping in the win were Haig Altoonian with an 82, Jim Carlson with an 82 and Peterson with an 83.
The Engineers hosted MIT Saturday the 30th, as the closing contest to Homecoming. In a tightly contested game, MIT came out with a 1-0 win. MIT scored 23 minutes into the second half and then held on for the victory. Goalkeeper Lynn Kearnan continued her steady season, recording 12 saves in the defeat.
Last Tuesday, WPI was looking for their first conference win against a Mount Holyoke squad that entered 1-0 in NEW 8 play. The first half ended 0-0 as both teams had their chances, but the goalkeepers held them back. In the second half, Denice Godfrey broke the deadlock when she scored to put WPI ahead 1-0. The Engineers' defense played solidly the rest of the way, led by Elana Kingsbury and Diane Nascimento, as they took the win. Kearnan recorded the shutout for WPI.
Thursday WPI journeyed in the rain to Regis to try an extend their win streak to two games. In very inclement conditions the Engineers pulled out a 1-0 win on a goal by Erin Duffy assisted by Godfrey.
For the men, Rich Person continues to have a solid season taking 8th place overall. Bruce Meacham had another strong performance finishing 17th overall, while Rich Crispo, Ian Quinn and Kevin Cizewski rounded out the scoring for WPI, finishing 25th, 26th and 27th overall respectively.
On the women's side, freshman Sue Shorrock continues to make an impression with her 16th place finish, while classmate Vicky Dulac came in at 27th.
The Engineers kicked off Homecoming weekend by hosting WNEC in a conference match up. WPI controlled the game from start to finish as they won 4-0. Senior co-captain Rad Donaldson played an outstanding game scoring a goal and assisting on the other three. Tim Spence, Mike Couchon and Eric Langlois were the other scorers and Jim Goodreau added one assist in the victory that moved WPI to 2-0 in conference play.
Last Monday, October 2nd, WPI traveled to Fitchburg to take on the Falcons in what is always a good match up. After playing a scoreless first half, the flood gates opened when both teams scored two goals a piece in a twenty two minute span. The Falcons went ahead 2-0 before WPI tied it on goals by Donaldson and Kevin Morin. The game ended 2-2 in regulation to force the overtime periods. In the first overtime, Fitchburg scored twice to lead 4-2 going into the second overtime period. In that period Fitchburg added another goal and WPI scored only one goal for the 5-3 final. Shaun McDonough scored for the only goal for the Engineers in overtime.
Looking to rebound from their loss to Fitchburg, WPI entertained Nichols two nights later at Alumni Field. The tempo was set from the beginning when McDonough scored 24 seconds into the game to put WPI up 1-0. Three minutes later Donaldson scored and WPI never looked back, winning the game 4-0. Chris Prueher and Leo White added the other two scores and Justin Moore, Mark Socha and McDonough added assists.
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