Cambridge, Mass. – November 5, 2024 – The fifth-seeded Springfield College men's soccer team prevailed, 9-8, in a penalty kick shootout to move past fourth-seeded MIT in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) quarterfinal round on Tuesday night on Roberts Field.

Springfield, now 6-8-4 on the year, will now travel to top-seeded and No. 11 nationally-ranked Babson College for the NEWMAC semifinals on Thursday afternoon at 1:30 pm, while MIT sees its season come to a close at 8-8-3.

Over the course of 110 minutes, MIT held a slight 21-20 edge in shots and an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks, while Springfield posted a 12-10 differential in shots on goal. Noah Pote (Washington, Conn.) made eight saves for Springfield tonight.

Springfield fought back from a 2-0 deficit after MIT's Shikhar Motupally and Jack Minor tallied goals over the opening 25 minutes of play. Springfield cut its deficit to 2-1 in the 29th minute as Brandon Trent (Commack, N.Y.) headed the ball into the upper right corner of the net off a long feed from Connor Policarpio (Bristol, Conn.). 

Then in the 50th minute, Morgan Thibodeau (Carrabasset Valley, Maine) found the equalizer off an unassisted strike – his third of the campaign to knot the score at 2-2. 

MIT played the majority of overtime down a player due to a red card in the 98th minute and Springfield nearly ended the match on a shot by Policarpio, but MIT keeper Paolo Mangiafico leaped to make the save. Neither team had a real opportunity in the second OT session leading to a penalty kick shootout.

In the shootout, Cole Sampson (Hingham, Mass.) buried his first attempt for Springfield, but MIT had the edge after Trent missed attempt in round two. Policarpio and Parker Thornton (Malden, Mass.) converted their attempts and needed MIT to miss which is what happened on its final attempt from Dilin Meloni to send it to sudden death with the score even at 4-4.

Both teams went back and forth as three straight first-years for Springfield converted – Tommy Quiterio (Ludlow, Mass.), Rian Lovell (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and Thibodeau. Playing down a player due to the red card, MIT was forced to use back up keeper Hernando Ardila for its round ten shot, but his attempt hit the post. 

Ian Belles (Brookfield, Conn.) ripped his kick into the net for Springfield to send the Pride to the NEWMAC semifinal round.

Springfield and Babson last met in the NEWMAC semifinal in Babson Park during the 2021 campaign.

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