Women’s Soccer eye fourth consecutive NEWMAC title
The team finished the regular season 17–2–1 in head coach Desmarais’s 18th year
After taking down Worcester Polytechnic Institute 4–0 on Oct. 31, MIT Women’s Soccer wrapped up their 2026 regular season 17–2–1 (11–0 in the NEWMAC conference). In Martin Desmarais’s 18th year as head coach, the team now looks ahead to the NEWMAC tournament, where they seek to secure their fourth consecutive title.
Regular season statistical leaders
Claire Zhang ’30 led the Engineers in goals scored (11), followed closely by Arianna Doss ’27 with ten and Andrea Cummings ’29 with seven.
Doss led the team in assists (12). Ayla Sumer ’27 and Skye Williams ’28 tied for second in assists with four each.
Goalie Maddy Noll ’28 started 16 games in goal and saved 90.2% of shots on goal (four goals allowed, 37 saves). Cassidy Jennings ’27 made four starts in goal and recorded a save percentage of 66.7% (two goals allowed, four saves).
Regular season overview
Women’s Soccer began their season on Sept. 1 against Gordon College at home, kicking off a stretch of seven straight non-conference games. In this stretch, the Engineers went 6–0–1, besting teams like Brandeis University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, while playing to a 0–0 draw against NYU.
Following this stretch, MIT took down their first NEWMAC opponent in Smith College, 5–1, to improve to 7–0–1. MIT then faced No. 5 Tufts at home, where they suffered their first loss of the season, falling 0–2 to the Jumbos. MIT rebounded from this loss by beating both Wellesley College and Coast Guard 5–0, improving to 9–1–1 heading into a much anticipated rematch against No. 1 WashU, the team that knocked the Engineers out of the NCAA tournament last year.
MIT picked up their second loss of the season to WashU by a score of 1–2, unable to equalize the game in the second half against the defending National Champions. After this loss, MIT rattled off eight straight wins against NEWMAC opponents to bring their win total to 17.
NEWMAC Tournament
MIT entered the NEWMAC Tournament as the one seed and defeated eight seed Springfield 3–0 on Nov. 3. MIT seeks to avoid their first loss to a NEWMAC opponent since 2023 (a 1–2 loss to Babson on Oct. 18, 2023).
Beyond the NEWMAC Tournament, the Engineers have greater aspirations in the NCAA Tournament, which kicks off on Nov. 14. MIT is looking to beat its program-best 2021 appearance in the Elite Eight.