Domination does not always equal victory.
In a match where the men's soccer team out-shot the visiting M.I.T. Engineers 14 to nine and kept the ball on the Engineers' side of the pitch for the majority of the contest, the Jumbos saw win No. 2 slip through their fingers in the final 10 minutes. M.I.T. scored two goals just five minutes apart to surpass Tufts 3-2 Wednesday afternoon at Bello Field.
"We dominated the game; we were clearly the better team," junior tri-captain Jon Glass said. "I don't know what happened [at the end]. We played down to their level."
Though the score stood deadlocked at 0-0 after the first 45 minutes of play, the Jumbos clearly had a handle on the game. The team recorded numerous chances to slip one past M.I.T. keeper Tom Caldwell with dangerous cross-field combinations and corner kicks. Tufts built its attacks from the back and methodically pushed up, pressuring the Engineers' defense with through balls to the strikers.
Glass came up from the back to head two hanging corner kicks just over the net. Sophomore striker Mattia Chason eluded the M.I.T. defense on several occasions, but failed to finish. Sophomore Bob Kastoff and senior tri-captain Mike Guigli also had opportunities from their midfield positions.
"It was one of those games where it just wasn't falling for us," Glass said. "We did everything we could to set up our chances and we usually put them away. Things just weren't going our way."
Tufts finally broke the stalemate three minutes into the second half. After an M.I.T. defender dragged down sophomore forward Greg O'Connell just outside the 18-yard line, Guigli set up for a direct kick. The veteran captain pounded the ball over the jumping Engineer wall. Guigli's shot sailed past Caldwell and nicked the crossbar on its way into the far corner of the net.
"It was an incredible goal; one of the best I've seen at Tufts," senior tri-captain Todd Gilbert said. "We knew we were going to score at some point, and felt it was only a matter of time before we got one in."
The exuberance produced by the game's first goal did not last long for the Jumbos. Less than one minute after Guigli's goal, M.I.T. junior Andrew Bishara responded for the Engineers, placing an angling shot past freshman keeper Brian Dulmovits.
"The most dangerous time for a team is right after it scores a goal. We let down mentally," Gilbert said.
The Jumbos began to let emotions get the better of them after seeing their 1-0 lead disappear as quickly as it had arrived. The team was issued a yellow card after the referee failed to call a foul when Kastoff was mauled in the M.I.T. box. Tufts seemed slightly unorganized in its touches until gaining a corner kick at the 28:35 mark.
The Jumbos set up for the corner, as they had throughout the game, with significant pressure on the back post. Sophomore Andrew Drucker's initial kick hovered just above ground level, but made it back to the kicker who launched it up and over the M.I.T. defense, finding the 6'1 O'Connell's head next to the far post. O'Connell redirected the cross into the goal giving Tufts a 2-1 advantage.
"Drucker didn't hit a great initial kick," Gilbert said. "But he stayed composed, and O'Connell was just there and powered it in."
Tufts settled down immediately after the second goal and managed to maintain its lead for nearly 20 minutes. The team generated several additional opportunities, but mainly tried to lock M.I.T. out of the box. This preventive defensive scheme, however, had the same effect as it so often does in the NFL: it prevented the Jumbos from securing the win with an insurance score.
Indeed, M.I.T. evened the score at two with just under ten minutes to play. The ball ricocheted off various feet in the middle as Tufts' defense pinched in. Several poorly controlled passes by M.I.T. somehow resulted in the ball squirting out the left side to a wide open co-captain Walter Song. Song had three years to set up, and drilled the ball past a sprawling Dulmovits to the right side.
"Unfortunately, it's been a trait of ours in recent years to give up cheap goals and let games we should win get away from us," Gilbert said.
With momentum on its side and time running out, M.I.T. began pressuring Tufts more than it had all afternoon. The Engineers' efforts paid off in the form of the game-winning goal in the 85th minute. Sophomore Chase Lochmiller headed in a cross from fellow second-year player Chris Desrochers to drive the win home for M.I.T. It was the first time in three years that an M.I.T.-Tufts match-up ended with a victory for either team as the cross-town, non-league foes battled to ties in each of the past two seasons.
"[The loss] doesn't mean much overall," Glass said. "We moved the ball well, and did a lot of great things. But we realized that we can't play for 75 minutes, we have to play for 90 minutes. Every minute counts and we have to play hard throughout the whole game."
With the loss, Tufts fell to an even 1-1 on the season.
