The men's soccer team is preparing to battle Johnson and Wales tomorrow following a successful weekend in which it defeated Trinity 1-0 on senior tri-captain Mike Prindiville's third goal of the season. The win pushed Tufts into a tie for second place in the NESCAC with the Middlebury Panthers, two games behind the Williams Ephs.
The victory was Tufts' fourth consecutive win since a loss to Bates on Sept. 29. Against non-conference Johnson and Wales, the Jumbos hope to continue the success that has engulfed the team for the past three weeks.
Tufts moved into second place in the NESCAC following Middlebury's Sunday's matchup with the Bates Bobcats. Had Middlebury pulled out a victory, the Panthers would have moved into sole possession of second place, but the teams battled to a 1-1 tie.
While the tie hurt the Panthers pursuit for second place, it was a step in the right direction for the Bobcats. It marked their second consecutive tie, as they battled Wesleyan to a 1-1 stalemate on Saturday. The Bobcats' senior goaltender Dan Spector made a combined 14 saves in his team's two NESCAC ties. Spector's success should not come as a surprise, as the keeper ranks fourth in the NESCAC with a 1.19 G.A.A. The two ties put Bates half a game behind Wesleyan in competition for the final NESCAC tournament berth.
In more important NESCAC news, Williams remained perfect, posting a 2-1 victory over the Amherst Lord Jeffs. However, unlike many of Williams' victories this season, the win over Amherst did not come easy. The Jeff's jumped out to an early lead in the 22nd minute when Chris Kane drilled a goal from 20 yards out. The Ephs were unable to respond in the remaining 23 minutes of the half and went into halftime trailing for the first time this season. In fact, the situation was even more unfamiliar for Williams, as it had never previously been held scoreless in the first half of a contest.
Although they found themselves in an unusual situation, the Ephs recovered to score the tying goal in the 52nd minute on Alex Blake's first goal of the game and then in the 71st minute, Blake's second score of the day won the game for the Ephs. Blake's heroics should not have been surprising, as he currently leads the NESCAC in scoring with 49 points, 20 points ahead of Bowdoin's David Bulow and Williams' Josef Powell.
With Amherst's loss, the Bowdoin Polar Bears moved into fourth place in week six of NESCAC action by defeating the Conn. College Camels 2-0 at home. The Polar Bears' Bulow scored one of the two goals raising his career total to 28 - four shy of the school's all-time record.
One of the season's more exciting games will take place next Saturday when Tufts travels to Williams in a matchup of the number one and two teams in the NESCAC. With a 5-2 record as compared to the Ephs 7-0 mark, the Jumbos will not move into first with a victory. However, a Tufts win will go a long way towards setting the tone for a potential face off in the NESCAC tournament.
