Men's Soccer (10-5-4, 1-3-2) Advances to Ninth Straight NEWMAC Tournament Semifinal

The Wheaton College men's soccer team went 1-1 in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament last week, as the sixth-seeded Lyons upset number-three Clark University, 1-0 on Wednesday in the first round before falling to second-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2-1 in a Saturday semifinal at Babson College. Wheaton qualified for its ninth straight league tournament semifinal and posted at least 10 wins for the 17th consecutive year.

At Clark, freshman Pablo Mena (San Salvador, El Salvador/American School of El Salvador) tallied his first collegiate goal after a 49th-minute scramble in the box. The Lyons were outshot by a 9-8 count, as sophomore keeper Cole Davidson (Needham, MA/Salisbury School) did not need to make a save but received defensive help in the 65th minute from freshman Chris Thomas (Cumberland, ME/Greely), who cleared a Clark attempt off the goal line.

Wheaton's barrage of shots went for naught against MIT, as the Lyons held a 36-15 advantage but yielded the winning goal in the 61st minute. At 52:58, sophomore Yuri Moreira (Marlboro, MA/Northfield Mount Hermon School) knotted the contest off of classmate Eric Driscoll's (Lexington, MA/Lexington) cross, but the Engineers went back on top for good at 60:45. MIT's goal 2:19 into the game broke Wheaton's NEWMAC Tournament shutout streak at 565:12 dating back to 2005. The Lyons hit the crossbar twice and had one attempt cleared out of the goal mouth by an Engineer defender. Wheaton held a 22-4 advantage in shots during the opening half, firing off its highest shot total in a single stanza since totaling 24 on September 28, 2005.

After Wheaton's freshmen, the Class of 2011, scored 28 of the team's 45 goals and recorded 34 of 50 assists last season, the class played a role in 35 of 38 tallies in 2008, with 29 goals and 32 assists. Sophomore Josh Solomon's (Acton, MA/Acton-Boxboro Regional) 10 assists tied for fourth in program history, while Moreira's 12 goals tied for seventh. Solomon has 17 career helpers, one shy of the top 10.