Though the game differed from last year in more than a few ways, the end result was all too familiar for the men's soccer team.
Tufts lost to the Middlebury Panthers in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs, 1-0, on Sunday. It was the team's third consecutive playoff loss to Middlebury and ended the Jumbos' season at 5-8-2. Last year's defeat came after a Tufts collapse in the final minutes that allowed Middlebury to score four unanswered goals. But this year's game was decided just eight minutes into the match.
"We were really confident and excited that we were getting another chance to play Middlebury, a team that we have had trouble against in the past," senior tri-captain Mike Guigli said. "We knew as a team that we could beat them and redeem ourselves for what happened last year."
"Our game plan was to go strong at them just like we did last year in the playoffs," junior scoring leader Mattia Chason added. "We were all very united and ready to give it a hundred percent on the field. We were all mentally and physically ready."
As has been typical of contests between the two teams, the game was a hard-fought physical battle from the start. The Panthers tallied the only goal of the day when senior co-captain Derek Cece drilled a penalty kick into the lower corner of the goal past diving freshman keeper Brian Dulmolvits at the 7:50 mark.
Tufts had several chances of its own early on, including two opportunities from Chason that were saved by Panther junior goalie Zach Toth. The team's best chance came when the Jumbos were awarded an indirect free kick ten yards out that Guigli drilled towards a leaping Middlebury wall
"The kick was unusual because it was setup around the ten yard line so Middlebury's wall was setup across the goal line," Guigli said. "They had their entire team lined up across the line. The only thing that I could do was take a hard shot and hope it found its way through the crowd. Unfortunately it didn't."
Tufts appeared to tie the match in the waning minutes of the first half, but a foul called in the penalty box before the ball crossed the line negated the score.
"The team played well in the first half and we created a number of good chances," Chason said. "However, the referee made some very questionable calls which made life a lot tougher on us. It was one of those games. There is no one explanation."
The second half consisted of more physical, even play in the middle of the field as Tufts desperately tried to draw even. The Panthers, however, proved impenetrable and sent Tufts home empty-handed for the third consecutive year. With the win, Middlebury advances to play Amherst, a team Tufts beat in the regular season, in the second round of the playoffs next Saturday at Williams.
Tufts earned the fateful sixth seed for this year's tournament after falling to the lowly Conn.College Camels on Saturday, 2-1. It was the first time in the 21st century that the Camels had triumphed over Tufts, and the loss denied the Jumbos the opportunity to play fifth-seeded Bates in the first round rather than the No. 3 Panthers.
"We definitely came out flat against Conn. College," Guigli said "They were a team with nothing to lose because they already knew that they weren't going to qualify for the playoffs. A team with nothing to lose is dangerous."
The Camels took the lead just 20 minutes into the match when senior Everett Phillips headed a cross from the outside that bounced off the crossbar. Phillips then managed to get his head on the ricochet and angle the ball past Dulmolvits.
Chason scored for the Jumbos after a feed from fellow junior forward Ben Castellot. His high shot to the upper part of the net was the junior's ninth score of the year, just short of a personal goal.
"It was important for me to score early in the game so I could get some momentum going and hopefully score a few more," Chason said. "However, the game went in the wrong direction and what we thought would be an easy win turned out to be a disappointing loss. My goal was to reach ten goals this season and I was one shy of that."
Conn. College came out on fire in the second half, taking up their spoiler role with speed and intensity. The Camels' aggressive play paid off in the 62nd minute when senior Michael Kosac scored the go-ahead goal. Rallying efforts by Tufts sophomore Greg O'Connell, Guigli and Chason proved fruitless as the final whistle blew out Tufts' hopes of a fourth or fifth playoff seed.
Guigli, though obviously disappointed and frustrated with the weekend's results, doesn't see this early exit from the playoffs as a total loss, emphasizing the Jumbos' effort and teamwork against a powerful Middlebury squad.
"I hate to end the season like this, going out so early in the playoffs, because I had high expectations for this year," he said. "With that being said, I have no regrets because I know I left everything I had on the field and I know my teammates did too."
Chason echoed the tri-captain's sentiments.
"We always gave our best effort in every single game of the season," he said. "This year's team was extremely united. We helped each other and cheered each other up at all times. There was no competition within the team and everyone accepted his role with professionalism."
