The men's soccer team's five-game win streak came to a screeching halt on Saturday in the squad's 4-1 loss to the Williams Ephs. Despite the defeat, the Jumbos (9-3, 5-3 NESCAC) managed to clinch a spot in the NESCAC tournament, which starts Sunday, Oct. 28.
With the win the Ephs improved to 12-0 overall and 8-0 in the NESCAC, wrapping up the NESCAC regular season title in the process. By clinching the title, the Ephs locked up homefield advantage in the semifinal and final rounds of the tournament.
For the first 20 minutes of play, the two NESCAC rivals battled to a 0-0 stalemate and it appeared that the game would remain close. But at the 20:59 mark, Williams' senior Ted Giannacopoulos set up a controversial goal that provided the Ephs with momentum they would never relinquish.
During the controversial play, Giannacopoulos beat several Tufts defenders and lofted a pass to Josef Powell. Powell sent a diving header into the lower right hand corner to give Williams a 1-0 lead and set off an explosion from Tufts. The Jumbos argued that Powell was offsides, but the call was not reversed.
"The first goal - we are not exactly sure what happened," freshman goalie Scott Conroy said. "Giannacopoulos dribbled through two or three of our guys. We think [Powell] touched the ball with his hand. He also could have been offsides. We really got down after that play and they came right back at us with another couple breakaways."
Following the score, Tufts struggled to regain its composure. "It just seemed like after they scored the first goal, we got our heads down," Conroy said. "By the time we got [it together], we had dug ourselves into a hole we couldn't get out of."
The Ephs remained on the attack and ten minutes later, at the 20:59 mark, junior Alex Blake scored on a feed from senior Richard Bode. Blake scored his second goal of the afternoon five minutes later on Giannacopoulos' second assist. Giannacopoulos put on a display, breaking down the Jumbos' defense before sending a pass to Blake, who booted it past freshman goalie Scott Conroy.
Blake's second goal of the afternoon concluded the first half of scoring and put the Jumbos at a 3-0 disadvantage heading into the second half.
Though the Ephs had a big lead, they maintained their intensity in the second half, adding a final tally in the 53rd minute when Giannacopoulos scored on a pass from senior Eric Stein. Once again Giannacopoulos was able to break down the Jumbos' defense on the drive. "Giannacopoulos was a really good player," Conroy said. "I've never seen somebody as quick as him with so many skills."
The fourth goal of the afternoon for the Ephs capped off a difficult game for the Tufts defense and rookie goalie Conroy. The four Ephs' goals were the most Tufts has given up all season.
"I thought we played pretty well, but we just had four breakdowns and they capitalized on all of them," Conroy said. "They are a team you can't make any mistakes against because they will convert."
After allowing two goals in the team's Sept. 29 loss to Bates, Conroy and the defense went on a hot streak, giving up one or fewer goals in five straight games. In nine of twelve games this season, Tufts gave up one or fewer goals. Not surprisingly, all nine of those games were Jumbo wins. But in all three of Tufts losses this season, the team has given up two or more goals.
Looking at the final game statistics, the 4-1 score should come as no surprise. The Jumbos were outshot by a 26 to 10 margin and the Ephs' goalie Robbie Kirsher made only three saves on the afternoon, demonstrating that the majority of Tufts shots were not good ones.
"They had the ball for more time," Conroy said. "Once we had the ball we had trouble getting it to our forwards and holding on to it. We really didn't really have many opportunities and when we did, we didn't shoot effectively."
One of the few highlights on the day came in the 61st minute of action when senior tri-captain Brad Stitchberry scored off a pass from junior tri-captain Matt MacGregor. MacGregor sent a pass to an open Stitchberry in the middle of the field and Stitchberry drilled a shot into the upper left corner of the net, which Williams junior goalie Robbie Kirsher had no chance to stop.
Tufts will have little time to brood over the loss as the team gets right back into action on Tuesday in a non-conference matchup with Gordon before completing its regular season schedule with a Homecoming showdown against Conn. College on Saturday.
