Camels upset Jumbos in first round of playoffs

As the rain came down, so too did the men's soccer team's chances at winning its first-ever NESCAC championship. Before Saturday, the Jumbos appeared to be primed for a title-run. Led by a dominant senior class, the Jumbos had not lost a game in the NESCAC. They were first in the NESCAC in goals scored and goals allowed, and they had home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

But Conn. College came to Kraft Field on Saturday, and immediately erased what Tufts had been building all year with a 2-1 upset over the top-seeded team in the tournament.

The two teams had already matched up once before during this season, with the Jumbos soundly defeating the Camels 3-1 in Connecticut. But in both games, it was Conn. College that struck the first blow only minutes into the game, with the team's goal on Saturday coming just five minutes in. 

Sophomore forward Weller Hlinomazbrought the ball down the left side of the field in the Jumbos' territory and sent a cross into the box to junior forward Matthew Bitchell. Bitchell took a low shot that skidded across the wet turf and forced sophomore keeper Scott Greenwood into a diving save, but the rebound from the save landed at the feet of first-year forward Graham Koval who took advantage of the open net and put the Camels up 1-0.

"[Conn. College] has been the only team we've really gotten down to early in the game," sophomore forward Nathan Majumder said. "Props to them for coming out intense and scoring on us both times early, and I think the first time we responded really well immediately. It was pretty soon after they scored, the first time we played them, that we got a couple goals back. [That response] really shifted our motion level, and the tone of the game in our favor, and [on Saturday] it went into the half and we were still down 2-0."

Part of the difficulty that the Jumbos faced in mounting a comeback was the weather, which consisted of heavy rain throughout the game and winds reaching 30 miles per hour. For a team like Tufts that is built to keep the ball on the ground and play through opposing teams instead of over them, a wet field can make a major difference. However, the Jumbos were reluctant to put too much emphasis on the weather's impact.

"[Weather] shouldn't have been [a factor]," coach Josh Shapiro said. "We beat them in the same conditions a month earlier ... It doesn't necessarily help us, those kind of conditions, but a good team has to be able to win in those conditions, and certainly a team that wants to advance through New England. Good teams don't need to make excuses, you just need to handle your business, and handle the details well, and we didn't."

While Tufts was able to score two quick goals the first time around, the team did not seem to have the intensity on Saturday that it had displayed all season long. Instead, the Jumbos found themselves in an even deeper hole after the Camels scored a second goal at the 29-minute mark.

The play started when sophomore midfielder Pat Devlin took a shot from the top of the 18 that was blocked. However, the Jumbos failed to clear the ball, and Devlin was able to grab the rebound and send a nice pass to Hlinomaz on the lower right side of the box, who then deposited the ball past Greenwood to make it 2-0.

"We just didn't come out with intensity, and we were kind of complacent at the beginning," Majumder said. "It might have been thinking that we were the No. 1 seed, and we deserve to be here ... but obviously with the NESCAC being as strong as it is, you have to treat every game the same, and I think we came out too soft, and before we knew it we found ourselves down 2-0."

However, if there was a team that would be able to mount a second-half comeback, it would be the Jumbos, who are loaded with weapons from front to back. And in the final 45 minutes, Tufts played the kind of soccer that it had played all season, outshooting Conn. College 13-7 and keeping the ball on Conn. College's half of the field nearly the entire time.

The Jumbos finally broke through in the 70th minute, when senior co-captain forward Maxime Hoppenot was dragged down in the box trying to run onto a through ball. Tufts was awarded a penalty kick, and Majumder nailed the PK to the left side of the goal to cut the lead to one.

"We got one, but it was kind of a race against the clock to see if we can get that second goal before the game ends, and unfortunately we weren't able to," Majumder said. "It's not like we weren't generating opportunities ... and the ball wasn't really leaving their half."

Tufts had several more good looks before the end of the game, but a combination of no-calls on chippy defense in the box and mishit balls left Tufts short of scoring a second goal.

"Certainly when you look at the second half, we created enough opportunities," Shapiro said. "At the end of the day, you don't want to leave it in the referee's hands, and you can't put yourself in a 2-0 hole in a playoff game and expect to come through."

The loss leaves the Jumbos far short of their expectations heading into the NESCAC tournament, but the team still has a chance for one more run in the NCAA tournament, if they are able to secure an at-large bid.

"If we do get another opportunity, we want to be as well-prepared as we can possibly be," Shapiro said. "I think when we huddled up after the game, and you look around at everyone's faces, nobody looked like they were done. I certainly don't feel like I'm done this year. We want to continue to play and play in big games, and represent the university and the jersey well."