Woo’s Game Winner Sends MIT Over Wheaton, 3-2, in Overtime

NORTON, Mass. – Freshman Wesley Woo (Palo Alto, Calif.) notched the game-winning goal into the back of the net in the 93^rd minute of the contest to lift the MIT men's soccer team to a 3-2 overtime victory over Wheaton College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) matchup on Saturday afternoon at Keefe Field.

At the 92:21 mark of the game, junior Kareem Itani (Dallas, Texas) put a shot on net that was saved by Wheaton senior goalkeeper Matt Dickey (Newton, Mass.). The save bounced into the possession of Woo, who fired the ball back into the corner of the net to seal the victory for the Engineers.

MIT and NEWMAC leading scorer, senior Sean Bingham (Garden City, N.Y.) opened the scoring for the Cardinal and Gray just 1:43 into the contest. Bingham drove past the Lyons back line into the box and promptly deposited the ball into the left side of the net, giving the Engineers an early 1-0 advantage.

Wheaton evened the game at 1-1 on a shot by senior Kevin Gil (Pawtucket, R.I.), his second goal of the season, at the 32:41 mark of the first stanza. Ten minutes earlier, Gil nearly got the Lyons on the board with back-to-back shots that were blocked by the MIT defenders.

In the second half, sophomore Louis Chavez (Porterville, Calif.) gave Wheaton its first lead of the game, 2-1. Chavez gathered the ball off a feed by classmate Amara Sesay (Bronx, N.Y.) and potted the go ahead marker, at the 55:09 mark of the second stanza.

Bingham evened the score at 2-2 with 19:45 left to play. Classmate Austin Freel (San Diego, Calif.) took the initial shot, but it was blocked by the Wheaton back line. Bingham picked up the deflection and deposited his second goal of the game and his team and NEWMAC leading 12^th goal of the season at the 70:15 mark. The score would remain knotted at 2-2, heading into extra time.

MIT wasted no time in the first overtime session as the Engineers had a corner kick and a shot on goal in the first minute. Freshman Logan McLaughlin (Park City, Utah) blasted a shot towards Dickey, 51-seconds into the stanza and thought he had the game winner, but the ball landed in the hands of the Wheaton net minder, keeping the score at 2-2.

Itani set up the game winner when his initial shot was saved by Dickey in the 93^rd minute. Woo picked up the rebound and potted the ball into the back of the net, his third goal of the season and first career game winner, at the 92:21 mark of the contest, lifting the Engineers to a 3-2 victory.
Cardinal and Gray senior goalkeeper Jake Amereno (Commack, N.Y.) made a pair of saves, but allowed his first two goals over the last 630:00 minutes in between the pipes for MIT. The shutout streak had stretched over six games, the longest in program history. Dickey stopped the ball eight times for the Lyons.

The Engineers outshot the Lyons by a 24-17 margin and held a 10-3 differential in corner kicks.
MIT (9-1-1, 4-0-0 NEWMAC) hosts Worcester State University on Wednesday, October 14 in non-conference action at 7:00 p.m., while Wheaton (8-6-0, 2-2-0 NEWMAC) welcomes Bridgewater State University for an out of league matchup at the same day, at the same time.