Colleges: Upton's Mandy St. Germain finds herself in a familiar place at WPI

After Mandy St. Germain helped lead Nipmuc Regional to the 2014 Division 3 girls’ soccer state championship at WPI’s Alumni Stadium, she was pretty sure she would be playing there again in the near future.

“WPI was definitely my top school at that point,” said St. Germain, who was the Warriors’ junior goalie in their 5-0 triumph over Lynnfield.

Two years later, St. Germain, who lives in Upton, arrived as a freshman at WPI.

“I remember the first time I stepped on the field I told everyone, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve been here before. I had a big game here,’” St. Germain said. “It’s something I always kind of remember when I’m on the field and hopefully we can get another title here this year.”

St. Germain was a freshman on WPI’s 2016 NEWMAC championship team.

Playing behind All-New England goalkeeper Gabriela Hoops, St. Germain appeared in just 13 games the last three seasons, but this year she is the Engineers’ senior starter and has helped her team to a 5-1 start.

St. Germain has posted three shutouts and made a career-high 10 saves in last week’s 2-1 loss to regionally-ranked Tufts. St. Germain was the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 9.

“It was definitely a transition,” St. Germain said. “At the beginning, confidence was the biggest thing I struggled with a little bit. Just knowing that I’m good enough and I’m also in a position to lead the team, getting the first couple games under my belt, it’s not really an issue anymore. I’m just making sure I’m ready for practice and bringing the team up with me is something I try to focus on.”

The first week of the season, St. Germain posted a 0.84 goals against average and .833 save percentage as the Engineers went 3-0.

“She’s been big for us,” WPI coach Steph Riley-Schafer said. “She’s led our defense both in the saves she’s made against tough opponents, and also with the communication and the leadership that she has back there. She’s been pretty strong off her line coming for loose balls in the box and going up for corners and crosses that could be trouble for us. She’s playing really confident right now, and that’s what you want from your goalkeepers.”

St. Germain has had a lot of offensive support. The Engineers are averaging 3.33 goals per game, and senior Kristen McCrea leads the NEWMAC with seven goals.

St. Germain made five starts as a sophomore and earned three wins.

“I was hopeful that come senior year I would have more minutes and I would be getting more time,” St. Germain said. “I was pushing myself and also using Gabi as an asset. We were great friends and we made sure we always pushed each other to the next level.”

St. Germain is a biomedical engineering major and an excellent student. She has a 4.0 GPA and has earned multiple NEWMAC Academic All-Conference honors.

At the end of her junior year, St. Germain and her team of four did their Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) in Melbourne, Australia. They partnered with the Emergency Services Foundation to provide recommendations for holistic retirement programming for emergency service workers.

St. Germain’s brother, Brian, graduated from WPI in 2016, so she was very familiar with the school and the campus when she was doing her own college search.

“It checked all the boxes,” St. Germain said.

Four years later, it still is.

“I’ve definitely loved it here,” St. Germain said. “I met some of my best friends here. A lot of the experiences made me learn a lot about myself, got me internships and hopefully a full-time job at the end. I’m appreciative of everything the school has given me.”

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTandG.