By Owen Farley
@owenfarley_18
SPRINGFIELD – On Saturday afternoon, Springfield hosted MIT at Brock-Affleck Field, hoping to defeat its NEWMAC rival.
The first half started off with Springfield creating multiple good scoring opportunities, but the shots were misfired and easily saved by the Engineers goalkeeper. MIT also created chances to find the back of the net, but they were unable to get a good shot on target.
The first twenty minutes passed with the game remaining scoreless, as a defensive stalemate was quickly presenting itself.
With 17:35 left in the first half, an MIT foul led to a Pride free kick taken by Matthew Mela. Mela lined up and curved his kick around two MIT defenders, a perfectly placed ball for teammate Parker Thornton to tap the ball into the net from the six yard line, giving the Pride a 1-0 lead.
Springfield didn’t stop the opportunities as four minutes after the game’s first goal, Springfield got into the MIT box again. The Engineers goalie, Paolo Mangiafico, fell down and Springfield midfielder Cole Sampson uncorked a shot, but MIT defenders got in front of the goal to stop the shot – and the Pride from taking a further lead.
The Engineers did not let up, as they were able to manufacture yet another scoring chance for themselves just five minutes later. Shikhar Motupally made a pass across the field through a sea of Springfield defenders for MIT forward Kaleb Asfaw, who struck the ball, but the shot went wide right just missing the post.
The Pride went into halftime dominating offensively and defensively, as they held a 1-0 lead on the scoresheet as well as a 3-0 advantage in shots on goal.
Just 14 minutes into the second half, MIT was able to strike and tie the game as Motupally delivered a bomb from thirty yards out and drilled the upper ninety over Springfields goalkeeper Noah Pote’s hands.
No later than two minutes after the Engineers first goal, Motupally sent the ball down the left side of the pitch to MIT midfielder Dilin Meloni. He took an off-balance shot to the right side of the goal, sneaking it past Pote’s dive into the bottom right of the net, pushing MIT’s lead to 2-1.
Springfield battled back-and-forth between playing very tough defense and creating chances offensively until Sampson was able to find Thornton on his long throw-in and Thornton struck again. He powered his shot under the MIT goalkeeper’s arm into the net to knot the game back up at 2-2 with 25 minutes left to play.
Springfield continued to create more scoring chances, but simply were unable to find the back of the net. Multiple shots ricocheted off of the post or shots went right to the MIT keepers hands.
Despite Springfield having a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal to MIT’s four, the final whistle blew and ended in a 2-2 tie.
“We made some really dangerous chances to score,” Springfield head coach Tommy Crabill said. “Hopefully the team will keep growing and we’ll convert those into wins in the future.”
That doesn’t take away how hard Springfield worked and battled back after not responding to two MIT goals after a couple minutes of play. The defense was able to stay strong and not let the Beavers get any more good chances.
“We’re really proud of the response.” Crabill said. “I think we came out really strong and had the right mentality. Our response was what was going to win the day so I’m thrilled with the response.”
The Springfield draw put their record at 4-6-2 on the season and will look to get a win next Saturday at Brock-Affleck field versus another NEWMAC opponent, WPI at 3:00 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics