Every successful season has its defining moments, and for the men's soccer team, this weekend was one of those moments. After ties in its past three games, Tufts broke out in a big way, beating Connecticut College 3-1 on Saturday before besting Trinity 2-0 on Sunday. The wins gave the Jumbos six critical points in the standings, and moved them into second place in the NESCAC with an unbeaten 5-0-2 conference record.
In Sunday's game against Trinity, the Jumbos saw goals from a familiar combination, as senior co-captain forward Maxime Hoppenot and senior forward Gus Santos both scored goals within 10 minutes of each other in the second half. For the past three years, either Hoppenot or Santos has led the Jumbos in goals but both have found it harder to find the back of the net than usual this year. The goals were Hoppenot and Santos' second and third of the year, respectively.
"[Max] has been playing so well [this year], he's one of the top players in the NESCAC, and he finally saw the ball go in the back of the net, which was awesome," junior forward Connor Brown said. "Gus had a couple goals, he's [also] looking super dangerous."
Santos' goal was the first strike on a penalty kick that was given after a Trinity handball in the box in the 49th minute.
Only 10 minutes later, it was Hoppenot's turn. Off a goal kick from sophomore keeper Scott Greenwood, sophomore forward Nathan Majumder caught the ball at midfield and hit Hoppenot with a lob ball on a run up the middle of the field. Hoppenot took a clean touch with two Trinity defenders on his back, and was able to outrace them to the box where he fired a shot past senior keeper Jason Katz.Tufts was able to keep Trinity off the board for the rest of the game, as Greenwood earned his fifth shutout of the season.
"I thought we came out right out of the gate, and kept [Trinity] in their end," Brown said. "We kept the keeper under pressure."
The previous day, Tufts didn't wait until the second half to grab the lead, as the team scored all three of its goals in the first half against Conn. College. The Camels put up a fight in the first half though, and were the first on the board with a goal from senior forward Kevin O'Brien only six minutes into the game.
Tufts was not in a hole for long, though, as Santos and senior defender Peter Lee-Kramer scored goals in the sixth and eighth minutes, respectively. Santos took a long cross from Brown and deposited it past sophomore keeper Austin DaCunha. Only two minutes later, Lee-Kramer found the ball at his feet off a rebound and quickly capitalized to put his team on top for good.
"Against Conn., we did a great job in terms of our response to giving up an early goal," junior midfielder Jason Kayne told the Daily in an email. "No one gave up and we trusted each other to get out of the hole we dug."
At the end of the half, Kayne set up Brown for his team-leading fifth goal of the year to push the lead to two. The combination of Brown and Kayne has been a revelation for the Jumbos this year, as the pair has combined for a whopping 24 points this season. With Brown and Kayne playing like all-stars this year, and Hoppenot and Santos rounding into form, the already formidable Tufts attack has the potential to become lethal.
"This weekend a lot of different guys were looking dangerous," Brown said. "We have a lot of different threats on our team and anybody can kind of step up to that task and put in a key goal."
Moving forward, the biggest take-away from this weekend will be the six points that Tufts earned on the road, but the team also was able to simply enjoy seeing its games end with wins instead of ties.
"It was nice to finally see three points instead of one," Brown said. "It was great for everybody to come together, win some games and play well ... I think all year long we've had this capability, and everything just kind of clicked this weekend offensively."
The Jumbos won't have long to bask in their glory though, as the Williams Ephs will come to Kraft Field this Saturday in a showdown between the second and third-place teams in the NESCAC.
"As a team, I think we have already cleared our minds of the success we had this past weekend, and our focus is completely on our game against Williams next weekend," Kayne said.
In Sunday's game against Trinity, the Jumbos saw goals from a familiar combination, as senior co-captain forward Maxime Hoppenot and senior forward Gus Santos both scored goals within 10 minutes of each other in the second half. For the past three years, either Hoppenot or Santos has led the Jumbos in goals but both have found it harder to find the back of the net than usual this year. The goals were Hoppenot and Santos' second and third of the year, respectively.
"[Max] has been playing so well [this year], he's one of the top players in the NESCAC, and he finally saw the ball go in the back of the net, which was awesome," junior forward Connor Brown said. "Gus had a couple goals, he's [also] looking super dangerous."
Santos' goal was the first strike on a penalty kick that was given after a Trinity handball in the box in the 49th minute.
Only 10 minutes later, it was Hoppenot's turn. Off a goal kick from sophomore keeper Scott Greenwood, sophomore forward Nathan Majumder caught the ball at midfield and hit Hoppenot with a lob ball on a run up the middle of the field. Hoppenot took a clean touch with two Trinity defenders on his back, and was able to outrace them to the box where he fired a shot past senior keeper Jason Katz.Tufts was able to keep Trinity off the board for the rest of the game, as Greenwood earned his fifth shutout of the season.
"I thought we came out right out of the gate, and kept [Trinity] in their end," Brown said. "We kept the keeper under pressure."
The previous day, Tufts didn't wait until the second half to grab the lead, as the team scored all three of its goals in the first half against Conn. College. The Camels put up a fight in the first half though, and were the first on the board with a goal from senior forward Kevin O'Brien only six minutes into the game.
Tufts was not in a hole for long, though, as Santos and senior defender Peter Lee-Kramer scored goals in the sixth and eighth minutes, respectively. Santos took a long cross from Brown and deposited it past sophomore keeper Austin DaCunha. Only two minutes later, Lee-Kramer found the ball at his feet off a rebound and quickly capitalized to put his team on top for good.
"Against Conn., we did a great job in terms of our response to giving up an early goal," junior midfielder Jason Kayne told the Daily in an email. "No one gave up and we trusted each other to get out of the hole we dug."
At the end of the half, Kayne set up Brown for his team-leading fifth goal of the year to push the lead to two. The combination of Brown and Kayne has been a revelation for the Jumbos this year, as the pair has combined for a whopping 24 points this season. With Brown and Kayne playing like all-stars this year, and Hoppenot and Santos rounding into form, the already formidable Tufts attack has the potential to become lethal.
"This weekend a lot of different guys were looking dangerous," Brown said. "We have a lot of different threats on our team and anybody can kind of step up to that task and put in a key goal."
Moving forward, the biggest take-away from this weekend will be the six points that Tufts earned on the road, but the team also was able to simply enjoy seeing its games end with wins instead of ties.
"It was nice to finally see three points instead of one," Brown said. "It was great for everybody to come together, win some games and play well ... I think all year long we've had this capability, and everything just kind of clicked this weekend offensively."
The Jumbos won't have long to bask in their glory though, as the Williams Ephs will come to Kraft Field this Saturday in a showdown between the second and third-place teams in the NESCAC.
"As a team, I think we have already cleared our minds of the success we had this past weekend, and our focus is completely on our game against Williams next weekend," Kayne said.
