Despite rainy, sloppy conditions on Williams College's Cole Field on Saturday, one fact remained true: the conditions had the same effect on both teams. But only Williams was able to overcome the environment and find the back of the net, as the Ephs (12-1-0, 8-0-0 NESCAC), ranked seventh nationally in Div. III, blanked the Men's soccer team 3-0.
The first half was marked by a missed opportunity and an unlucky whistle. With the game scoreless, Tufts senior tri-captain Todd Gilbert fired a shot from 25 yards out that beat Williams senior goalkeeper Nick Arrington, but the ball clipped the crossbar and stayed out of the net. The missed shot eventually proved to be the Jumbos' best chance of the day, as Arrington needed to make only three saves to post his fourth consecutive shutout.
The Ephs opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the game's 35th minute. Williams sophomore forward Kit Fuderich was on a breakaway with only Tufts freshman keeper David McKeon between him and the goal. McKeon, attempting to prevent a goal, took Fuderich down and the referee deemed the play unclean. On the ensuing penalty kick, junior forward Patrick Huffer, who made the pass to Fuderich, hammered home his shot to give Williams a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
"We gave the ball away deep in our half on the sideline, and [Huffer] split our defense with a pass," senior tri-captain Todd Gilbert said. "Dave came out, the guy dribbled around him, and Dave had to take him out."
That was not the first time on Saturday that McKeon was put in a tough spot. An elbow injury in practice during the week to the team's regular keeper, freshman Brian Dulmovits, left the position between the pipes up in the air until game day. McKeon was granted his first career start and put forth a gutsy performance, making five saves under the difficult circumstances.
"I don't think Dave even knew he was starting until right before the team was announced [on Saturday]," Gilbert said. "It's tough to make your first collegiate start against a team like Williams, but he did a great job and made some big saves for us."
Unfortunately for Tufts, the second half was just like the first. Huffer again found the back of the net only three minutes into the half, beating McKeon after taking a well-placed pass from classmate Tommy Day. With the score at 2-0 in favor of the Ephs, the deck was stacked against a Tufts comeback.
The Jumbos could not muster anything in the next ten minutes, and Williams put the game on ice in the 57th minute. Senior forward Josh Bolton took a feed from junior midfielder Dan MacGregor and slipped the ball inside the left post for the third and final goal of the game.
Gilbert attributed the loss to his team's inability to possess the ball consistently.
"The main problem was us giving the ball away too cheaply," he said. "And you just can't do that against a team like Williams."
With Tufts only able to muster as many shots on net as its opponents managed to score (three), the class of the NESCAC and all of New England was on display on Saturday. Williams, now a perfect 8-0 in the conference, secured a first round playoff bye with the win and has outscored NESCAC opponents 21-3 this fall. The Ephs have won the conference tournament every year since 2001 and are an astounding 38-4-2 in league play since that time.
"[Williams just doesn't] have any weaknesses," Gilbert said. "Every player on their team plays at such a high level. They can sub in five or six guys from their bench that will play just as well as their starters, so they can really run teams down. And they also have some players with great skills."
The Jumbos have more pressing issues at hand as they finish the regular season this week in the hopes of an ideal playoff game situation on Sunday. No matter what, the plan is for Tufts, which controls its own playoff destiny, to be playing games on three of the next six days. The team will be preparing for what could be the busiest week of the season.
"A few of our players are pretty banged up," Gilbert said. "I think it will be a lighter week of training just to get everyone healthy."
