Wednesday Night in America: Western New England’s Three-Goal Comeback, MIT Win in Overtime, TCNJ Book a Home Semi-Final
Some nights you just have to survive until the last ten minutes. Western New England did exactly that.
The Golden Bears went to Newport, Rhode Island, and spent most of the night chasing Salve Regina. They didn’t manage a shot in the first quarter at all. Jordyn Pineau put Salve ahead late in the quarter, then scored again five minutes into the third to make it 2-0. Western New England were being outshot 9-5 heading into the fourth. It looked done.
Then it wasn’t. Mikayla Mrzywka roofed one under the crossbar with 10:40 left. Less than three minutes later Maddie Ripley poked home a through pass to tie it at 2-2. Within another three minutes Mrzywka danced past the Salve defence and goalkeeper and tucked the winner into an open cage. Three goals, about six minutes, game over. Mrzywka’s pair took her to 19 goals for the season, and Ripley’s was her fifth. Western New England finish the regular season 12-6, and as the No. 2 seed in the CNE Tournament they’ve earned a first-round bye. They host a semi-final on Wednesday 4 November at 7:00pm local time, against the winner of No. 3 Roger Williams and No. 6 Nichols.
MIT had their own late drama, and theirs needed overtime. The Engineers beat Roger Williams 3-2 in Bristol, Rhode Island, in their final non-conference game of the season, and Ingrid Tomovski had a hand in all three MIT goals.
Roger Williams struck first through Emma Sheldon, but MIT levelled with 15 seconds left in the first quarter when Tomovski’s shot took a deflection and Grace Chrapowitzky tapped it home. Tomovski’s blast from the top of the circle set up Sammi Blocher at the far post early in the third, and MIT led 2-1. Brodie Loveland tied it for the hosts with 1:24 left in regulation, and overtime looked like it might go either way. MIT had the first two shots, Roger Williams came back at them, and then, with just under four minutes left, Tomovski collected a pass from Drew Hussar, dodged a defender, and saw her shot deflect off goalkeeper Meili Raspante’s leg, off the far post, and in. That’s the kind of winner you remember. MIT are 12-5 and finish their NEWMAC regular season at Wellesley on Saturday at 12:00pm local time.
The cleanest win of the night belonged to TCNJ. The Lions beat Stockton 4-0 in Ewing, New Jersey, scored twice in the opening minutes, and never let Stockton back into it. Prisha Dhruve scored twice, goalkeeper Brigitte Racey made seven saves for her 19th career shutout, and TCNJ finished 11-4 overall and 6-1 in the NJAC, unbeaten at home at 7-0. The prize is a home NJAC semi-final, and the twist is the opponent: Stockton again, next Wednesday at 2:00pm local time, in a rematch of this one. Stockton threatened in the third quarter, four shots on goal in 90 seconds, and Racey stopped the lot. TCNJ will need that same sharpness next week. A team you’ve just beaten 4-0 is a dangerous team to play again.
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- https://sportscursor.com/tufts-luft-nescac-player-week-unbeaten-top-seed-28-october-2026/
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