The goals keep on coming for freshman forward Alex Lach.
After Tuesday night's 1-0 victory over Southern Maine, Lach's lone goal - his fourth of the season - gave him three in the past two games and tied him with senior tri-captain Greg O'Connell for the team lead.
In the 63rd minute, junior midfielder Peter DeGregorio's feed to the left side of the box set up Lach for the shot over Husky goalie David Kreps.
"I got a nice ball from [senior tri-captain Andrew] Drucker," DeGregorio said. "I committed the defenders and then turned it up to Alex."
Although the team emerged with the victory by the slimmest of margins, the Jumbos controlled the pace of the game from the opening whistle.
"I don't think the score shows how much we controlled this game," sophomore forward Bear Duker said. "But they weren't bad. We only beat them by one."
Tufts outshot the Huskies 13 to 10 in the game, certainly notable considering the team was resting some of its starters and working on a new 4-5-1 formation in which O'Connell moved from striker to midfielder.
"We needed to do something, because we weren't getting results," coach Ralph Ferrigno said. "And even though Greg was our leading goal-scorer, I felt he'd make us more solid in the middle. It wasn't a hard transition for him, because he played in the midfield his first three years. We're not a heavy goal-scoring team."
In fact, four of the team's six losses have been by a one-goal margin, while all four of Tufts' wins have come on shutouts - a testament to both Tufts' strength in back and its problems putting the ball in the net.
"We're very solid in the back," Ferrigno said. "That's a place where we've improved since the beginning of the season."
Although the Jumbos did not have much to show for their offensive efforts, the game was still fairly offensive-minded from the start.
A header by senior midfielder Bob Kastoff hit the crossbar in the opening minutes of the game, while a shot by Lach sailed just over the crossbar in the 16th minute.
Southern Maine threatened to score in the 23rd minute when senior forward Eddie Weddington's header hit the bottom of the crossbar. Junior midfielder Greg Cox grabbed the rebound and drilled a shot at the goal, but it landed in the hands of junior goalkeeper David McKeon.
In the 34th minute, Cox took advantage of some defensive confusion to slide behind two defenders off a throw-in and fired a shot on goal, which McKeon grabbed once again, another one of his five saves on the day.
Despite the confidence-building nature of this victory, the Jumbos will be facing a tough test on Saturday. Tufts is currently in seventh place, and needs to beat Williams to ensure they remain ahead of Colby in the standings and eligible for the NESCAC playoffs.
But a win against Williams will be no easy task, as the Ephs currently sit in third place in the NESCAC with a 5-2 record. In the last eight years, the Jumbos have not won a game against Williams.
"Williams will be on another level [from Southern Maine]," DeGregorio said.
After the Ephs, Tufts will have one more chance to improve its league record when it takes on Conn. College Oct. 27 in the last game of the regular season.
If Tufts can't pull off the upset over Williams this weekend, the playoff picture is bound to get murky. The Jumbos are currently vying with the Colby Mules for the seventh and final spot in the NESCAC Tournament, and while the Jumbos have a one-game lead at the moment, that lead isn't safe.
The two teams tied in their head-to-head season opener Sept. 8, and since then the two teams' league results have been startlingly similar. Tufts' four losses are to Middlebury, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Amherst, and Colby's five are to the same four teams, plus Williams. Both squads upset Trinity, and if Colby beats Bates on Oct. 27, the two teams will have the same two wins.
With the season winding down to its final two NESCAC weekends, every game is crucial. The Ephs and Jumbos kick off at noon in Williamstown Saturday.
