Men's soccer topples Amherst

The soccer team continued the winning ways it displayed last season in its first NESCAC game on Saturday, an away match against the Amherst Lord Jeffs. With the victory, the Jumbos now stand in a four-way tie with Colby, Wesleyan and Williams for first place in the conference.

Down early in the game, the Jumbos felt the pressure of their opponents, yet rebounded quickly to seal the win. The victory moved Tufts to 2-0 on the young season while spoiling the Jeff's season opener, sending them away with a 0-1 record.

Amherst is traditionally one of the tough opponents, and the Jumbos wanted to test their strength against a NESCAC opponent. The game began ominously when Amherst nearly scored twice in the first few minutes of the game. The Lord Jeffs were the first to draw blood, as senior midfielder Chris Kane took a pass from freshman Joe Gannon for a goal in the game's 17th minute.

"In the first 15 minutes we were really playing poorly," sophomore goalkeeper Scott Conroy said.

The Jeffs' goal sent out a wake-up call to the Jumbos. Almost immediately afterwards, Tufts responded with a goal of its own. Senior co-captain Matt MacGregor scored his first goal of the season unassisted to tie the game 1-1 1:49 minutes later.

"We reacted well to the goal. We didn't get down and we stuck it out," MacGregor said.

MacGregor's goal brought about a shift in the game's momentum, bringing the Jumbos back into their playing style.

"It was pretty much a feeling of relief when he scored. Up until that point we had been getting dominated by Amherst," freshmen Todd Gilbert said.

Deflating the Jeffs' hopes with the first goal, the Jumbos were able to regain control and score again before going into the half. Nearly ten minutes off of MacGregor's first goal, the Jumbos netted what turned out to be the game-winning goal, as junior co-captain Mike Blea scored on a rebound off of freshmen Mike Guilgi's deflected shot.

The Jumbos had been looking to score on rebounds, as Amherst freshmen goalie Greg Lockwood was susceptible to allowing goals off of rebound shots.

Going into the half up 2-1, the Jumbos felt confident that the win would be theirs.

"The second goal pretty much took them out of their game," Gilbert said.

The Jeffs did not give in easily, though, as they came out strong in the second half, putting pressure once again on the Jumbos defense. But late into the regulation period, Gilbert added an insurance goal, putting the Jumbos up 3-1 and securing the victory.

Despite their poor performance early in the game, the Jumbos were pleased with the game. After failing to move the ball well and convert on opportunities in their previous game against Lasell, the team moves onto their next match-up with a more solid victory under their belts.

"What we needed against a team like this was for everyone to give 100 percent and I think we did," MacGregor said. "We took advantages of the opportunities we had better than we did against Lasell."

Offensively, the team was able to take 14 shots on goal. While Amherst had the opportunity to take 25, Conroy played well and had eight saves. Most of the Jeff's goal attempts occurred in the first half, when their pressure was strong.

The men remain busy this week, with an out of conference game against MIT on Wednesday and then return to their NESCAC schedule on Saturday against Connecticut College. Both games will be played on the road.

"This is the first game in a lot of games and while we're excited about the way we've played we need to stay level headed. We can't get ahead of ourselves," MacGregor said