The Jumbos moved to 9–0, their best start to the season since 1994, with two victories over Homecoming weekend. Tufts defeated its closest NESCAC rival, Amherst, 2–1, before downing Hamilton, 1–0, at Bello Field in a pair of hard-fought conference matchups.
With fewer than three minutes remaining in the Jumbos' tilt against the Continentals on Sunday, senior defender Jackson Najjar picked up a loose ball around midfield. Faking a long pass, Najjar dribbled past one defender and found yards of space in front of him.He cleverly fed junior forward Joe Braun in the righthand channel, splitting Hamilton's left and center backs in the process.Braun took advantage of the center back's defensive lapse and just as the ball was getting away from his long strides, he lunged towards the ball and chipped it over Hamilton's onrushing goalkeeper, first-year Thomas Benson. The Continentals' defense could only watch as the ball trickled into an empty net. It was Benson's only mistake in an otherwise terrific performance.
“I thought that I had been having a pretty poor game against Hamilton," Braun said. "A lot of times, the ball was coming to me and it wasn’t sticking right, or I had a bad layoff to another guy. I was getting really frustrated, and I thought the center backs did a good job of handling Max Jacobs and I. I was glad to be able to leave my mark on the game."
The goal was a relief for the Jumbos, who had mustered 20 shots prior to Braun’s effort. It came only minutes after Braun was booked for being involved in an altercation with several Hamilton players. In the 85th minute, Braun collided with Benson while going up to head a corner kick and was pushed to the ground by various Hamilton players. Both Braun and Hamilton junior defender and co-captain Luke Eckels were shown yellow cards after the scuffle.
The opening 10 minutes of the game were tense. The Continentals earned their first corner kick inside two minutes, and the Jumbos struggled to control their clearances, resorting to booting the ball out to the Continentals’ back line multiple times.
“The first ten minutes of the Hamilton game showed [how mentally challenging the weekend was],” sophomore midfielder Mati Cano said. “We were tired and had heavy legs. It’s hard to find the motivation and keep trying really hard and running as much as you have to. We need to work, mentality-wise, on getting our feet going and coming in with the right mentality. After Hamilton got a few chances at the beginning we were scared. We knew we needed to pick it up — otherwise we had an actual chance of losing the game.”
Once Tufts weathered Hamilton's initial storm, the tide turned and the hosts began to press hard. In the 23rd minute, sophomore midfielder Travis van Brewer crossed the ball from the left wing, and Braun headed the ball toward the net, only for it to rebound off the crossbar.
The second half was equally frustrating for the Jumbos. Two excellent chances — the first from sophomore forward Max Jacobs in the 47th minute and the second from junior midfielder/forward Gavin Tasker on the hour mark — got past Benson, only to be miraculously cleared off the goal line by the Continentals' defenders. Moments later, junior midfielder Jack Delaney had a goal ruled out, compounding Tufts' woes. Braun finally provided the seemingly inevitable winner with less than three minutes remaining, tying him with Jacobs for the team lead in goals and earning NESCAC Player of the Week honors in the process.
On Saturday, the stands at Bello Field were packed with students and alumni celebrating Homecoming weekend. The Jumbos scored a goal on both sides of halftime to notch a 2–1 victory over the Amherst Mammoths.
“Against Amherst, we were in control of the game and doing what we wanted to do,” coach Josh Shapiro said. “The [Mammoths'] goal on a funny play frustrated our guys, but they still kept their concentration. Amherst is good. They play with pride and they created pressure down the stretch, but we managed to navigate that unscathed. All of the sudden, we felt really threatened after having not felt that way earlier in the game. The response to see it through and keep it at one goal against was really important.”
Tufts opened the scoring just inside the 22-minute mark. Tasker lost possession in the box after bringing the ball up the left wing, but a poor clearance ricocheted off Amherst senior defender Sean Fitzgerald and into the path of Cano, who was free on the far side of the box. Cano let the ball roll across his body and rifled a shot into the top of the net, leaving first-year goalkeeper Bernie White rooted to the spot.
The Mammoths’ biggest strength was their long throw-in and counterattack, which tested the hosts' aerial ability and defensive shape. Statistically speaking, Amherst provided Tufts' best competition so far this season: Both teams took 15 shots, while Tufts took five corners to Amherst’s four. Senior goalkeeper and co-captain Conner Mieth tallied six saves to White’s three.
Van Brewer made it 2–0 after Tufts' best buildup play of the game. Sophomore midfielder/forward Alex Ratzan intercepted a pass and beat Amherst's left back with a neat first touch. With his second touch, Ratzan found Braun, who in turn, found Van Brewer five yards outside the box.The diminutive midfield maestro took a diagonal touch and just as the ball entered the box, ripped a left-footed shot inside the far post. White got a touch on it, but Van Brewer's shot was too powerful and sailed into the net.
At 69:06, Amherst junior midfielder Dane Lind took a free kick from outside the box.His cross found its way to sophomore forward Sebastian Derby unmarked at the back post, who headed it into the goal to cut the Jumbos' lead to one. Lind's assist on Derby’s goal was his sixth of the season, making him the team's leading chance-creator this season.
Cano subbed on immediately after the Mammoths scored, adding energy for the Jumbos and helping the hosts preserve their narrow advantage until the final whistle.
“The bench always brings the intensity,” Cano said. “We have our own huddle on the bench, and we talk about how we should be the guys to come on and provide the spark. A lot of times, our starters or guys on the field have been stagnant, and we can come off the bench and really raise the level of play. When I came on, my mentality was to try and help the team in any way — especially just by raising the intensity.”
Amherst's goal put pressure on Tufts to hold its lead for the final 20 minutes. The team was forced to engage mentally after playing 250 minutes of soccer in a five-day span. Mieth was forced to make four saves to preserve the victory over Amherst, as Tufts' defense was tested. Eventually, 90 minutes were up and the elated Jumbos team breathed a sigh of relief before running to the stands to celebrate with their alumni.
“It’s cool to be 9–0," Braun said. "The first half of the season is over with, and we’ve done everything that we’ve wanted to do up to this. The second half of the season is going to be even more important. We are going to continue the mindset of our next game being the most important, and hopefully have a similarly successful second half.”
On Saturday, the Jumbos travel to Vermont, where they will look to continue their perfect start to the season against the Middlebury Panthers (4–2–2, 2–2–1 NESCAC).
