Weekly sports update - results from October 20th through 26th

by Geoff Hassard - Sports Information Director

Football (2-4)

The football team traveled by bus - maybe it would have been safer by boat - to play Springfield College Saturday the 21st in a rain-storm. Unfortunately, the Engineers were not able to sustain a consistent offensive attack and were defeated 30-7 by the Pride.

Springfield capitalized early on two WPI miscues, a fumbled punt and a blocked punt, to jump ahead 14-0. The Engineers did cut the lead in half on a 71-yard fumble return by Khalid Rucker and it looked like the momentum was shifting to WPI. The score remained 14-7 at the half.

Any chance of keeping the charge going ended in the third when Springfield scored on their first two drives of the second half to increase their lead to 28-7. They added a safety for the 30-7 final.

Adam Abrams had another strong game with 21 tackles and Rucker was named to the Freedom Football Conference honor roll for his performance.

Women's Soccer (4-11 final)

The first varsity season for the women's soccer team came to an end last week when WPI was eliminated in the first round of the New England Women's Eight Conference Tournament. On the whole they were competitive in every game and with a few more goals could've easily pushed their record to .500 or better. They lost five games alone by a score of 1-0.

Prior to their first tournament experience WPI played their last regular season game at Wellesley on the 21st, in the same rain as everybody else in New England. They ended up losing another close one by the score of 2-1. Freshman Lauren Goodfellow scored WPI's lone goal for the day.

The Engineers drew cross-city rival Clark University for the first round of the conference tournament. WPI was seeded eighth and was optimistic that they could pull off an upset. The score at halftime was only 1-0 in the Cougars favor. In the second half, some key injuries to a couple of Engineers hurt and Clark went on to score two late goals for the 3-0 final.

Women's Volleyball (13-12)

The volleyball team competed in a tournament over at Atlantic Union College on Sunday the 22nd and finished third. They played well against some good teams, but were only able to win one match. They defeated the host, Atlantic Union 2-0, but lost to UMaine-Farmington 2-1, Roger Williams 2-0 and St. Josephs of Maine 2-1. Sophomore Emma Palmacci was named to the All-Tournament team for her performance in the four games. She had 18 kills, 39 assists and 20 digs.

Last Tuesday the Engineers opened their season-ending homestand with a match against Worcester State. WPI was too much for the Lancers as they swept them 3-0 (15-4, 15-8, 15-9). Senior co-captain Angela Wonsey had 8 kills and 10 service aces to lead the attack. The team also recorded its third highest total all time for service aces in a match when they tallied 24.

Thursday night WPI hosted a 17-11 St. Joseph's squad and played the most exciting match of the season. It went five games and all the way to rally scoring with the Engineers prevailing 3-2 (14-16, 15-11, 15-13, 14-16, 15-8). In both the third and fourth games WPI battled back from deficits of more than five points. It was an outstanding team effort as all those who played contributed to the victory.

Field Hockey (7-11 final)

The field hockey team's season came to an end last week when they were eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament. They were defeated by Clark 3-1 on the road last Thursday. Prior to that game they were beaten by Wellesley 2-0 to end the regular season.

In the game against Clark, WPI fell behind early and wasn't able to mount an attack to cut into the lead. Senior captain Tracy Langis did end the season on a positive note when she scored with 16 seconds left, assisted by Heather Bryer and Jen Adams.

Men's Golf (6-14 final)

The men's golf team ended their season last week when they competed in the New England Championships. Coach Massucco's squad did well as they finished in the top ten of all the Division III schools that competed. It was their best showing in the last five years.

Sophomore Mike Willock led the way for the Engineers with a two-day total of 164. He was followed by seniors Brian Klauber (172), captain Jeff Peterson (174), and freshmen Haig Altoonian (178) and Jamie Carlson (181). Congratulations to our golf team.

Men's Soccer (7-7-1)

The men's soccer team had a rough week with a loss and a tie to two Constitution Athletic teams, Babson and Norwich, as they move towards the end of their 1995 season. They tied Norwich 2-2 in overtime and lost to Babson 3-1.

In the Norwich game, WPI was behind 1-0 until one minute left in the game when Ian Buckley tied the score to send the game into the extra periods. In the first overtime, WPI took the lead on a goal by Mark Socha. Unfortunately in the second overtime period Norwich scored to tie the game again for the final 2-2.

Last Thursday WPI hosted Babson College in their last home game of the season. WPI controlled the game and had the lead 1-0 until the Beavers tied the score with just over 12 minutes left in regulation. That goal by Babson seemed to open the flood gates as they scored two more within a span of six minutes to win the game 3-1. Eric Langlois tallied the goal for the Engineers in the first half, assisted by Mark Socha and Rad Donaldson.

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