You can't win if you can't score.
The men's soccer team was blanked 2-0 by NESCAC rival TrinityCollege on Saturday in Connecticut. It was the Jumbos' first lossin four games and halted the team's longest win streak of theseason at three. Tufts and Trinity now stand deadlocked in seventhplace in the league.
"No one played well at all," senior captain and second halfgoalkeeper Scott Conroy said. "We were not moving the ball well, weweren't holding it well, and we were not getting any dangerouschances. We didn't test their keeper at all."
With the stiff October wind at their backs during the firsthalf, the Jumbos kept the game scoreless despite not playing up totheir standards. The teams went into the halftime intermission withthe score tied at 0-0.
"Trinity wasn't a very good team," Conroy said. "Just because wedidn't play well didn't mean they could score on us at will."
The match remained scoreless for much of the second half well.Sophomore Jumbo Mattia Chason had Tufts' best chance to break the0-0 stalemate soon after halftime.
"Mattia broke through and hit a hard shot towards the upper 90,"Conroy said. "It hit the post and then just bounced right back.That could have totally changed the game if he had scored, butthat's just how the day went for us."
Trinity finally tallied the first goal of the day in the 66thminute. Sophomore midfielder Drew Murphy was awarded a free kickfrom about 18 yards outside the goal box. Murphy nailed the directkick past the Tufts defense and Conroy and into the corner of thenet.
After the Bantam goal, the momentum shifted away from theJumbos. Sloppy play on both sides of the pitch kept Tufts fromleveling the score and getting back into the important NESCACgame.
"We just weren't playing our game," Conroy said.
Trinity added an insurance goal in the final minute of play.Freshman forward Charlie Fuentes received a pass from seniorforward Rob Bialobrzeski. It appeared Fuentes was offsides when hegot the ball, but the line judge failed to signal the infraction.With Fuentes already behind the Tufts defense, there was not muchConroy could do to prevent the final goal of the match.
With the loss, Tufts moves to 6-4-1 overall and 2-4 in theNESCAC. Trinity upped its record to an unimpressive 3-6-2 on theyear, but has the same league mark as the Jumbos, tying the twoteams in seventh place. Only the top seven teams will qualify forthe post season tournament coming up in early November.
Tufts will need to pull itself back together after the Trinityloss for its next three NESCAC games. The team will have a week offbefore battling at home against second-place Williams thisSaturday. Tufts will then play Wesleyan and Connecticut College inmore NESCAC action the following week.
"We just have to take it one game at a time," Conroy said. "Wehave to beat Wesleyan and Conn. College to have a good chance atmaking the playoffs."
Tufts has proven its ability to perform in big games twice thisseason. With a tie against nationally ranked MIT in September, andan upset win over league rival and former conference leader Bowdoinon October 9, the Jumbos have shown they can play up to theircompetition. A game of this caliber this weekend against Williams,ranked second in NESCAC at 5-1-1, would give Tufts a much-neededboost after falling to Trinity.
In other Tufts soccer news, sophomore forward Ben Castellotearned NESCAC player of the week honors for his two goals againstBowdoin. It is the first time this season that a Jumbo has beengiven this honor.
