Midway through its 2010 campaign, the men's soccer team went on its longest losing streak of the season — three games — due in large part to an unfortunate propensity to give up early goals. The team eventually righted the ship, solidified the defense into one of the conference's best and punched its ticket to the NESCAC Championship.
In the quarterfinals of the tournament on Sunday, though, those same early lapses reared their ugly heads. Middlebury, with a goal in the 7th minute and two more away before 25 minutes were up, secured a 3−0 victory and a spot in the semifinals, effectively ending Tufts' season.
"It's kind of the story of the two teams," senior quad−captain Chris Flaherty said. "Middlebury won the National Championship a few years ago, and they're a perennial powerhouse in the tournament. We are an up−and−coming program and we made it a long way, but we need to learn how to handle ourselves in big games. … We can't afford to fall asleep."
The Panthers wasted no time getting on the board, with junior forward Tyler Macnee netting the first goal just 6:23 past the starting whistle. Off a restart in Tufts territory, junior Robbie Redmond served a ball into the box and Macnee redirected a header with his own head past Tufts junior goalie Alan Bernstein.
"When a goal happens early in the game, it changes the complexity of our strategy, because now we have to come out and play from behind from the start," senior quad−captain Josh Molofsky, who is also an editorialist for the Daily, said. "I don't think it was a trend in our season — I think it was something that happened a few times, and we dismissed it by shutting down early on and being careful out of the back. But in this game, I don't think it was the fault of mentality or strategy, but sometimes these things just happen and you have to move on and push through it."
Middlebury had no intention of stopping after one goal, however, and the first half provided evidence as to why the Panthers were the third seed in the tournament with 2.33 goals per game.
In the 16th minute, Brett Brazier scored his second of the year as he beat Bernstein on a second header attempt off a Panther corner kick. Then, the battering continued at 24:15 when Macnee struck again with his head, this time off a cross from senior tri−captain Carson Cornbrooks, to put Tufts in a 3−0 hole from which there seemed to be no escape.
Tufts managed to balance the game heading into halftime and came out of the break with more confidence. The Jumbos managed their two best chances early in the second half off the foot of sophomore forward Kieran Lewis. Lewis first sent one high over the crossbar at 46:30, but followed the attempt with a shot on target. Unfortunately for the scrambling Jumbos, junior keeper Tim Cahill denied Lewis's 15−yard blast.
"The way we responded in the second half speaks to our character," Molofsky said. "We came out and fought for a game that we thought wasn't over."
In the end, however, Tufts was plagued by the same offensive inconsistencies that have hurt them all season and was shut out for a seventh time — the second time by Middlebury, which blanked the Jumbos 1−0 in the season−opener. This time, Tufts finished with only four shots, compared to Middlebury's 11, and the Jumbos forced Cahill to make only one save in his ninth shutout of the season.
"Middlebury is a team that plays deep and compact in their own end, and part of their strategy is to let us come at them and get a lot of numbers behind the ball," Molofsky said. "Most of the season, we play with the intention of getting fast players behind the defense, but when Middlebury sits so many guys in and makes us play in front of them, it makes it tougher to generate chances."
The 3−0 loss to Middlebury marked only the second loss of the Tufts season by more than one goal, an indication that perhaps the Jumbos' final performance of the season was not indicative of the campaign as a whole.
On Friday afternoon, Tufts hosted Bowdoin for Senior Day, as the six Jumbos seniors said farewell in their last home game at Kraft Field. The Polar Bears ruined the moment, however, and earned a 1−0 victory behind junior Nick Powell's goal with just over 35 minutes to play in the second half — a win that gave Bowdoin the No. 1 seed in the impending NESCAC tournament.
"For the seniors it was an emotional game, and to lose on a run−of−play goal was frustrating," Molofsky said.
The Jumbos finished the season with a 5−8−2 record overall and a 3−4−2 record in conference play in their first year under head coach Josh Shapiro.
On the whole, 2010 showed marked improvement from last year's 2−10−2 overall and 0−8−1 NESCAC records. There is a consensus among the team that its play was certainly a step up from last year across the board.
"I think team mentality has improved tremendously," Molofsky said. "I think the spirit and the strategy with which we play has also gotten better. In past years, where defeats spurred more defeats and finger−pointing, I thought the response this year was much more positive. Having a smaller unit without a JV program makes the team tighter, gets everyone involved and creates a more cohesive unit. That team mentality and that positive attitude really contributed to our success."
"It's the belief and the passion that Coach brings every day, whether it's a practice or a game or just a team meeting, that's very inspiring," Flaherty said.
The team probably made the biggest strides on the defensive end, in large part to the play of goalkeeper Bernstein. After seeing only limited time last season, Bernstein emerged as the starter out of training camp, and was in net for every conference match−up. Overall, Bernstein allowed 12 goals in 11 starts and recorded an impressive .855 save percentage. He was even better in conference play, where he allowed only six goals in nine games and made 56 saves, good for a .903 save percentage.
"Bernstein kept us in a few really tight NESCAC games, which made all the difference come the end−of−the−year standings," Molofsky said. "More often than not he was the reason that we came out on top of the scoreline."
The team also made huge improvements in what could have been one of its biggest weaknesses: defending set pieces. Though the Jumbos had a smaller backline than almost any team in the NESCAC, goals off corner or free kicks were rare against them. Over the course of the season, players have described how, as long as they defend tenaciously and focus on beating attackers to the ball, they can overcome any size difference. And with the exception of Middlebury's first goal on Sunday, Tufts managed to keep opponents off the board from set pieces nearly the entire season.
Offensively, the team never found a consistent pattern of play and struggled to connect passes and hold together. At times, they showed creativity and prowess on the ball, but for many of the conference games, good chances on net were hard to come by.
Still, many believe the team played with more purpose than it did a year ago, and while the goals didn't add up as much as the Jumbos would have liked, the team attacked with more organization.
"We generated chances pretty well, but we didn't always finish them when we should have," Molofsky said.
While the 2010 season may have ended on Sunday, Shapiro's tenure at Tufts is just beginning. The results of his coaching are visible both in the statistics — including a three−win increase in NESCAC play — and in some of the intangibles: The team showed heart, determination and focus throughout the season.
With a slew of young players gaining considerable minutes during the season, the future looks bright for the Jumbos.
"I've seen all these guys in practice, and even players that didn't get onto the field are very capable," Molofsky said. "We're going to see more young talent as Coach's first recruiting class comes in. The numbers and energy with which this program has gathered this past year will only pick up steam."
