Every four years, the men's soccer team tours around Europe at the end of August, playing professional teams and honing skills in preparation for the upcoming fall. For a relatively young team that peaked at the end of its season a year ago when it captured the ECAC Championship as the fifth seed, the tour could not have come at a better time.
"It was certainly good timing," assistant coach Pat Marino said. "We had such a young team [last year], and it just took a lot of time for them to gel and find their identity. We had a lot of talent, but we had a lot of disappointing results. The tour gave [coach Ralph Ferrigno] a chance to see a lot of the young guys, and the team had some success over there as well."
Junior co-captain Matt MacGregor was equally positive about the experience, while also singling out team bonding as an important benefit of the trip. "It was a good tour; there were a lot of good games against some great competition," he said. "But aside from that, we gained a lot from the time that we spent together as a team."
The Jumbos kicked off the 13-day springboard to their season with a stop in Edinburgh, Scotland for two games, before heading to Liverpool, England, where it spent six days facing top-notch competition. Ferrigno and his team lived in the University of Liverpool dorms during their stay, which consisted of five games against both youth professional and amateur teams from London, Liverpool, and Edinburgh.
Outside of Liverpool, the Jumbos took on the under-19 team of Tranmere, a professional club that plays as a member of England's first division - one step below the illustrious Premiership, the top league in the county. Tufts refused to let intimidation be a factor, though, and held its own in the contest, battling to a 1-1 tie. Senior tri-captain Brad Stitchberry clinched the tie when he finished a beautiful feed from junior Alex Berg in the 85th minute.
"We were a little disappointed to have to settle for a tie," MacGregor said. "But it was the best game we played in England."
Another match pitted Tufts against Crew Alexandria's under-19 team, also a professional club that plays as a member of England's first division. Crew Alexandria is renowned for developing players and then selling them off to the bigger clubs, managing continuously to field a very strong team of its own.
"Crew Alexandria was the best team I've ever seen," junior defender Rupak Datta said. "They had one player who was worth 1.8 million pounds."
Not surprisingly, then, the Jumbos were overmatched and suffered a lopsided loss, 9-0. Despite the result, they came away from the game with new insight that will surely aid them in the highly competitive NESCAC Conference.
"Crew Alexandria beat us pretty badly," MacGregor said. "But it was a learning experience, because we're going to come back to the NESCAC and play teams of equal or lesser caliber."
Other NESCAC schools used similar tactics for their summer training programs, with Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury each making overseas trips of their own. This will only boost the already high level of competition within the conference, with nine teams fighting for a single postseason bid. Due to a new ruling last year, NESCAC teams will no longer be playing in ECAC tournaments, meaning that the only means of reaching the postseason is to win the NESCAC Tournament.
"They know that they have to win the whole thing to get to the postseason," Marino said. "And I think after winning the ECAC's last year, a lot of them expect - whether its realistic or not - to be the NCAA representative. I don't think we have to put pressure on them, they're going to put it on themselves."
Since returning from Europe, Ferrigno and his staff have used the past week to begin making final decisions regarding roster spots and positions in preparation for the team's season opener on Sept. 12 at La Salle. Just two seniors departed from last year's Tufts team - captains Steve McDermid and David Drucker - leaving limited spots open for the seven freshman and 25 upperclassmen in the program. The loss of McDermid, a four year starter in goal, leaves Ferrigno with senior Ryan Plichta as his starter. Plichta does have experience on his side, albeit limited, with 200 minutes of action and one win in three years. Behind him are four freshman recruits, who will compete for the back-up role this year and ultimately the starting spot in the future.
"Plichta played excellent on the tour," MacGregor said. "He doesn't have much experience in net, but he is an excellent shot stopper. I think that if he can step it up and gain confidence, he'll be able to fill the role."
On Sunday, the team got a chance to showcase its skills in a game situation on American soil, with a dual scrimmage against Harvard and NESCAC rival Bowdoin at Kraft Field. The high powered Crimson edged Tufts 1-0, while the Polar Bears battled the hosts to a 1-1 stalemate.
Marino was happy with the squad's performance but maintains that the level of expectations has been raised as a result of last year's fanfare down the stretch. "We had a very good showing against Harvard," he said. "I wasn't impressed with Bowdoin. Our last year's jayvee and younger guys did very well against a lot of their first team guys. We're very excited, but the expectations are a lot higher. They know what has to be done."
And Datta remains assured that he and his teammates are up to the challenge, thanks large in part to the European tour. "We came off a good season last year to go into the trip," he said. "And now, after it, we're more confident and we know where we are."
