Men's soccer advances to 5–0 with another shutout against Wheaton

 

The No. 1 Tufts men’s soccer team is on a rampage, moving on to a record of 5–0 this season after shutting out the Wheaton College Lyons 6–0 Tuesday night on Bello Field. The Jumbos rolled out their formation to tremendous effect, scoring three goals in each half. The team is undefeated in their last 26 games, spanning back to its 1–0 loss to the Brandeis Judges in the Div. III NCAA sectional game on Nov. 19, 2017.

The Jumbos were coming off a redemptive 2–0 win against the aforementioned Judges on Saturday. With confidence running high, Tufts raised the tempo for its Wednesday night non-conference game against Wheaton.

"The team felt really good coming off the last game because we played a full 90 minutes of good soccer," senior midfielder/defender Drew Stern said. "We played the first three games with some inconsistencies and because of that we haven't gotten ahead of ourselves or let the success get to our heads. But in the last two games, we've played great soccer."

Tufts came out hot right off the start, quickly taking control with a corner kick only three minutes into the game. Junior midfielder Travis Van Brewer swung the ball in play for the Jumbos, and the ball soon found junior defender Biagio Paoletta, who opened his scoring account for the season with a goal to put the Jumbos up by one.

The Jumbos continued the aggressive attack in the following minutes. Senior midfielder Brett Rojas ripped a shot that first-year Wheaton goalkeeper Cameron Millington saved. Senior midfielder/forward and co-captain Gavin Taskercrossed the ball to senior forward Joe Braun minutes later, but the resulting shot went wide. 

The second goal for Tufts came in the 22nd minute of play. Tasker slid a pass to the top of the 18-yard box for Braun, who found a yard of space and took a shot. Millington made the save, but the ball rebounded and foundjunior midfielder/forward Alex Ratzan, who put the ball away in the back of the net. The goal marked Ratzan’s third of the season — breaking his tally from the past two seasons combined. Just under three minutes later, Tasker found Van Brewer in the box, but Millington made another impressive save. 

Marauding sophomore defender Ian Daly scored the last goal of the half. Junior forward Max Jacobscrossed to a wide-open Daly, who headed in his second goal of the season. The Jumbos cruised to a comfortable 3–0 halftime lead. 

The Jumbos did not ease up in the second half. Just under three minutes in, Van Brewer sent another shot to the back of the net from the top of the box to mark his third goal of the season. Two minutes later, Braun received a pass from senior midfielder Zach Lane and fired it past Millington to make the score 5–0.

The Lyons' single opportunity to reach the scoreboard came one minute later after earning a corner. Wheaton senior forward Shawn McCallreceived the cross fromsenior midfielder JD Souza and was able to get a shot off; however, sophomore goalkeeper Erich Kindermannmade the save for the Jumbos. The missed shot would be the only one the Lyons would take throughout the entirety of the contest.

The Jumbos netted their last goal of the game 79 minutes into the game. Senior midfielder/defender Zach Trevorrowtook a corner that found first-year Rolando Rabines, who scored the first goal of his collegiate career. 

With the win, the Jumbos rise to 5–0 and the Lyons fall to 3–4. Overall, the Jumbos out-shot the Lyons 18–1 in a very dominant performance. Wheaton’s Millington made a promising six saves throughout the game. 

Coach Josh Shapiro spoke about the work ethic of his team, emphasizing the team's one-game-at-a-time mentality.

"We have a successful group and program because we have young men who are hungry to improve, hungry to prove themselves and truly enjoy putting in the work to get better every day,"  Shapiro said. "It is one day at a time, one practice, one game. We are still figuring out who we are, but we can say we are on a good path."

The Jumbos return to NESCAC competition Saturday afternoon on Bello, matching up against the Colby Mules — the very team that beat the Jumbos in a penalty shootout in the NESCAC tournament quarterfinal last season. The game is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. 

Stern spoke about the upcoming Colby game, as well as the upcoming slate of NESCAC games.

"Colby knocked us out of NESCACs last year in penalty kicks, so it will definitely be a big test," Stern said. "After Colby, we have a tough stretch of NESCAC games, which is never easy regardless of what anybody's record is going into it. But we're looking forward to the challenge."