Box Score NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--Jordan Houston (Logan, Utah/Logan) netted all three goals as the Smith College soccer team clinched a 3-1 win over visiting Worcester Polytechnic Institute in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game on Tuesday afternoon.

Smith is now 5-7-2, with a 3-3-1 NEWMAC record, while WPI, which lost for the third straight game, is 8-6-1, with a 2-5 record in the NEWMAC.

Houston opened the scoring with the first real chance of the game.  The Pioneers earned a corner kick in the fourth minute, and Houston sidefooted her eighth goal of the year from Innis Hitt (Arlington, Va./Yorktown)'s delivery.  

The Engineers began to turn up the heat, as NEWMAC leading scorer Megan Forti tested Smith 'keeper Alanna Lynch (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) in the 11th and 13th minutes, but Lynch turned away the shots.  Lynch was forced into action again in the 35th minute, leaping to tip Emily Doherty's effort over the crossbar.  

Smith took the 1-0 lead into the break, but WPI continued to force the issue in the second half.  Lynch made saves from Doherty and Erin Bracken early on in the frame, while at the other end, Houston forced a save from Maddie Willer.  

WPI levelled matters in the 58th minute.  Doherty lofted a pass from the right side into the box, and Forti let it bounce before volleying the ball past Lynch to knot the score.  The goal, her ninth of the year, gave her 80 career points.

Houston put Smith in front for good in the 79th minute.  Classmate Olivia Mallari (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) chipped a ball over the top of the WPI defense, and Houston was on hand to poke home the go-ahead goal.  She completed her hat-trick three minutes later, dispossesing a WPI player and curling in her 10th of the season from the edge of the 18 yard box, off the underside of the crossbar.

It was the first hat-trick for Smith since Ellie Theurer scored four goals in a game against Elms College on September 22, 2010.

Lynch tied a career high with 16 saves for Smith, while Willer made seven stops for WPI.  

Smith will travel to Wellesley College for a NEWMAC game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.  WPI hosts Springfield on the same day at 11 a.m.

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