Marlborough, Mass. - November 3, 2026 - MIT and Coast Guard were both successful in defending their home fields on the opening night of the 2026 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament. The third-seeded Engineers topped sixth-seeded WPI, while fourth-seeded Coast Guard defeated fifth-seeded Emerson, both by 2-1 final scores.
Quarterfinal: Tuesday, November 3 (All Games at Higher Seed)
Game 1 - #4 Coast Guard def. #5 Emerson, 2-1 - Box Score
Game 2 - #3 MIT def. #6 WPI, 2-1 - Box Score
Semifinal: Friday, November 6 (All Games at Higher Seed)
Game 3 - #1 Babson vs. #4 Coast Guard - 1:00 pm
Game 4 - #2 Wheaton vs. #3 MIT - 2:00 pm
Championship: Sunday, Novemer 8 (At Highest Remaining Seed)
Game 5 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner
No. 3 MIT 2, No. 6 WPI 1
Michael Montabana (Jamison, Pa.) put WPI ahead 1-0 just 22-seconds into today’s quarterfinal matchup in Cambridge and despite being outshot 11-2 over the first 45 minutes of play, Worcester’s Engineers took the 1-0 edge into the halftime break. Nico Magnifico (Farmington, Conn.) found the equalizer for MIT early in the second on an unassisted strike and the score remained knotted at one until there was less than five minutes left in regulation. Gianluca Balestrieri (Washington, DC) then roped a curling shot into the top right corner of the net scoring what proved to be the game winning goal for MIT. MIT outshot WPI, 18-6, and held a decisive, 15-1, differential in corner kicks. Cambridge’s Engineers earned their first conference tournament win since the 2015 season when MIT topped Springfield, 1-0, in the semifinal round. This will however be MIT’s third semifinal appearance over that same stretch having advanced on penalty kicks in 2021 and having earned a bye in 2022.
No. 4 Coast Guard Academy 2, No. 5 Emerson College 1
Similar to the match in Cambridge, Carlo Carson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) gave Emerson a 1-0 lead midway through the first and took the lead into halftime. Coast Guard, however, didn’t back down and scored twice in a span of nearly six minutes late in the second half to secure the tournament win. Elliot Belton (Mechanicsville, Va.) tallied the equalizer off a feed from Cole Miller (Annapolis, Md.), while Naveen Jayareem (Tampa, Fla.) notched what proved to be the game winning goal in the 72nd minute. Emerson peppered Coast Guard keeper Samuel Linkous (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) with a few shots over the final 20 minutes of play, but the attempts were stopped as the Bears advanced into the semifinal round. Coast Guard will be making its fourth straight trip to the NEWMAC semifinals on Friday against top-seeded Babson at 1:00 pm.
About the NEWMAC
The NEWMAC is an association of 13 selective academic institutions: Babson College, Clark University, U.S Coast Guard Academy, Emerson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College, Saint Anselm College (beginning reclassification process with NCAA in 2027-28), Salve Regina University, Smith College, Springfield College, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, that are committed to providing high quality competitive athletic opportunities for student-athletes within an educational and respectful environment that embodies the NCAA Division III Philosophy. The conference also partners with seven Associate Members: New York University (Men's Volleyball, 2026-2027), Norwich University (Football), Simmons College (Rowing), SUNY Maritime College (Football), SUNY New Paltz (Men's Volleyball, 2026-2027), U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Football), and Vassar College (Men's Volleyball, 2026-2027), while sponsoring 21 sports.