Jumbos take first in NESCAC with win over Ephs

Visiting parents this past Saturday got a chance to see a once-in-a-decade moment: the men's soccer team staking its claim to first place in the NESCAC. With a 1-0 win over Williams at Kraft Field and Wesleyan's 2-1 upset win in overtime against Amherst, Tufts assumed the top spot in the conference.

Tufts has never won the NESCAC regular season title since the league's creation in 2000, but with only two conference games to play, Tufts has total control over its destiny. Wins over Bowdoin and Hamilton will seal a first-place finish.

Winning two games in the NESCAC is no simple task, however, and despite outplaying Williams for most of the game on Saturday, Tufts was still only able to secure a one-goal victory.

In the first half, the Jumbos had several opportunities to break open the game, but a combination of bad luck, mis-kicks, and stellar goalkeeping from Ephs sophomore keeper Christian Alcorn kept the Jumbos off the board in the first half.

Junior midfielder Rui Pinheiro started the attack in the 13th minute with a well-placed corner that found senior defender Peter Lee-Kramer in front of goal, but Alcorn, in full stretch, denied Lee-Kramer his second goal of the season.

Undeterred, Lee-Kramer continued to be a weapon on the offensive end, as Pinheiro again found the big target in the box off a cross in the 22nd minute. Lee-Kramer rocketed a shot that appeared to be on its way in, but it was blocked by a Williams defender, giving Tufts another chance on a set-piece.

Pinheiro tried a third time to find Lee-Kramer on the ensuing corner, but to no avail, with Lee-Kramer's header hitting the crossbar before being cleared out of bounds by Williams. The Jumbos, having exhausted the Pinheiro-Lee-Kramer tandem, then mixed  a different combination of players, as junior defender Monil Patel sent a ball in from the corner that eventually found senior co-captain forward Maxime Hoppenot in front of the net. Hoppenot tried to one-touch it in, but his shot sailed high, ending the Tufts barrage for the time being.

"We've been known for being a smaller team in the league, so in terms of set-pieces, we want to be bigger and more physical," Lee-Kramer said of his increased offensive role. "This year we've been incredibly dangerous on set-pieces ... our coaches are really motivating us to get forward and be part of the attack."

Tufts threatened yet again just 10 minutes later, when junior midfielder Tal Smith found senior forward Gus Santos at the top of the 18-yard box. Santos sent a laser towards the top of the net, but Alcorn made a tremendous leaping save to once again deny the Jumbos.

Amid the flurry of shots from Tufts, Williams struggled to put together any offensive buildup, despite having the NESCAC's leading goal-scorer, senior forward Zach Grady. Despite Grady's prolific goal-scoring abilities (his total accounts for nearly 50 percent of Williams' goals this season), the Tufts' back line, led by Lee-Kramer and senior co-captain Sam Williams, was able to neutralize Grady -- and therefore Williams.

"We were anticipating a lot of shots from wherever [Williams got the ball]," Lee-Kramer said. "Luckily they were only playing [Grady] up top so Sam [Williams] and I tried to pressure [him] as much as possible, and get him out of his rhythm in the beginning of the game."

"The two center backs played great together," coach Josh Shapiro said. "They played the best I've seen them play together in four years."

The Ephs were still nearly able to break through once in the first half, when first-year forward Malcolm Singleton slipped past the Tufts defense to find himself alone on the far right side with the ball. Singleton attacked the goal from an angle, and sophomore keeper Scott Greenwood charged Singleton, forcing him to hesitate, which gave Greenwood enough time to make the save.

Although the Jumbos were kept scoreless in the first half, a goal in the second half seemed inevitable. It eventually came on a strike from Santos, who converted on a penalty kick.After receiving the ball from Pinheiro at the top of the 18, Santos streaked across the 18 to the left of the box, using a series of fake shots and stutter steps to throw the Williams defenders off-balance. Just inside the box, Santos finally baited a Williams defender, who mistimed his tackle, sending Santos into a barrel-roll and conceding a penalty kick. At the spot, Santos coolly sent a line-drive into the lower-right side of the goal and gave Tufts its first lead of the day.

"We were very aggressive,"  Shapiro said. "We established territory and made [Williams] defend the whole width of the field."

The goal was Santos' third in as many games, as he is now performing consistently on the offensive end for an already loaded Jumbos' attack. Santos, alongside Hoppenot, continues to look more and more impressive with each game, as Tufts' offense rounds into form. Hoppenot's ability to hold up the ball and set up the attack outside the 18 has allowed players like Santos, and junior midfielders Connor Brown and Jason Kayne, to operate with plenty of space. The Jumbos also got a surprising offensive contribution from first-year midfielder Scott Sclar, who came into the game late and faked out several Williams' defenders with skilled dribbling when possessing the ball.

"[Sclar] is a very talented freshman," Shapiro said. "He has all the creative instincts to become a special player. In certain games, and in certain spots, he's going to be a very dangerous player off the bench for us."

For the rest of the game, Tufts was able to sit back and hold off Williams, giving Greenwood his sixth shutout of the season.

With two NESCAC games remaining, the Jumbos are excruciatingly close to a first-place finish in the NESCAC. Hamilton, which Tufts plays on Friday, is tied for last place in the conference but will certainly not go down without a fight, as the team is third in the conference in red cards and fourth in yellow cards. Bowdoin currently sits at 4-4 in the NESCAC, but has not beaten any of the five teams ahead of it in the conference. While securing three points against any NESCAC opponent can prove difficult, the Jumbos have proved they can rise to the occasion.