Playoff Picture: Women’s Soccer Advances, Women’s Volleyball Falls, Men’s Soccer Plays Thursday
Matt Horan and Olivia Cappoli co-wrote this article.
For the first time in Emerson College’s history, three of teams advanced to NEWMAC playoffs in the same week.
On Tuesday, November 1, the third-seeded women’s soccer team defeated sixth-seed Wheaton College, 3-2, in a thrilling double overtime victory at Rotch Field in the NEWMAC quarterfinals.
Down 2-1 in the second overtime period, Simone Barragan-Shaw ’24 and Caitlin Johnston, MA ’23 scored a pair of goals a mere 32 seconds apart. Johnston had already netted Emerson’s first goal 19 minutes into the game on an assist from Ainslee MacQuarrie ’23.
But it was the miraculous double overtime goals that pushed Emerson into the next round. Barragan-Shaw scored with a mere 43 seconds left in the game when she collected a rebound and kicked it within the far left post.
Then with only 11 seconds left in the game, Johnston intercepted a clearing pass in Wheaton’s defensive zone, and booted the game-winning goal.
The win pushes Emerson’s overall record to 10-3-5 (7-1-3 NEWMAC). The win netted Head Coach David Suvak his 100th as the women’s soccer coach.
The team’s next playoff game is against Babson College (2) on Thursday, November 3.
Women’s Volleyball Spiked in NEWMAC Quarterfinals
The Lions, (18-5, NEWMAC 7-3) lost a tough game to Smith (21-10, NEWMAC 5-5) on Tuesday at the Brown and Plofker Gym in the NEWMAC Quarterfinals.
Amelia Combs ’25 had a game-high 22 kills, and Caroline Bond ’23 had 42 assists, but that wasn’t enough as the Lions lost in five sets.
The Lions took the first set, 25-15, as Combs led the offense with five kills. The second set was a different story as Smith got ahead, 8-2, and Emerson tied it at 13-13 with good play by Bond and Logan Steenbergen ’23, but Smith went on another run to win that set.
The Lions took the third set, winning again by a large margin, 25-15, and Smith grabbed the fourth set, 25-18. With the teams tied with two sets apiece, the match came down to the fifth and final set.
Smith jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the deciding set. Emerson was forced to call a timeout and regroup. Following the timeout, Jillian Kay ’23, Combs, and Steenbergen helped the Lions cut into the Pioneers’ lead. The Lions got within two points before Smith called a timeout, followed by seven straight points, increasing their lead to 13-4.
The Lions again fought back, scoring five of the next six points. The Smith lead proved to be too big to overcome, and the Pioneers were victorious by a score of 15-9 as they advance to the NEWMAC Semifinals.
Men’s Soccer Looking to Advance on Thursday
The men’s soccer team (10-2-5) is in the NEWMAC playoffs for the first time ever, and is seeded second. The Lions will meet third-seeded MIT on the pitch in the semifinals at Emerson’s Rotch Field on Thursday, November 3, at 7:00 pm.
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