Men's soccer falls in valiant effort

The men's soccer team played well, but its efforts were not strong enough to subdue Alex Blake and Williams College. While Tufts' first half was not bad, the Jumbos were on the attack during the second. Unfortunately they could not finish, losing the match 2-0.

Overall, the Jumbos played a complete game, which was necessary for the team to even have a shot against a top caliber squad such as Williams.

"We knew we were going to have to play our best game to win," senior Garrett Dale said. "In the second half we gained more confidence and showed the game could have ended a bit differently."

The Jumbos were forced to play catch-up for 86 minutes of the game, as Williams jumped on the board in the first four minutes of the game. Eph senior Blake is the returning National Player of the Year and the Jumbos were well aware of this. Blake went down the sideline and then passed to the center to teammate junior Ryan Olsen, who put in Williams' first goal.

"Throughout the season it has been a pattern of us giving up scores in the first 15 minutes" junior tri-captain Mike Blea said. "In those games we have comeback, but you can't give a team like Williams a goal in the first 15 minutes."

The Jumbos and Ephs went back and forth for most of the first half with Williams up one goal. In the second half, the Jumbos especially senior Dave DeLuca came out with a different look in their eyes.

"Dave DeLuca played a key role coming in and pressuring center of the park," Dale said.

Tufts forced the ball deep into Williams' zone, forcing corner kicks and sending shots a bit off goal. Even with the pressure, the Jumbos could not score an equalizer.

"I don't get too frustrated, that's sort of the reality of soccer," Blea said. "It's frustrating we couldn't score and we have had problems finishing throughout the season."

With a tying goal still in the Jumbos eyes, Blake put away the game for the Ephs. Blake scored unassisted in the 80th minute of the game. The score is Blake's 15th goal in 11 games.

"We had Blake under control the entire game," Blea said. "But the last goal he beat two of us on the dribble, so it was defendable, just poor defending."

The loss dropped the Jumbos below .500 in the NESCAC at 3-4 (7-4 overall) and into seventh place. In NESCAC soccer, the top seven teams make the playoffs, with three teams sitting out of the dance. The Jumbos have two NESCAC matches remaining against third place Middlebury and last place Colby.

"It is a lot of pressure especially going into a game like Middlebury," Blea said. "We have Middlebury and Colby left, it is a lot of pressure. Not making the playoffs would be a huge disappointment."

These games will determine if the Jumbos can remain in the top seven and make the NESCAC playoffs. The loss to Williams is not an easy pill to swallow as it does make the road to the playoffs that much more difficult.

"It makes winning these last games against Middlebury and Colby that much more important," Dale said. "We're confident that we can make it happen."

The team travels to Johnson & Wales for a Tuesday non-conference match-up. The Jumbos are 4-0 in out of conference games. The game is the last tune-up for the squad's final two NESCAC competitions.

"I really don't know much about them," Blea said. "I think coach designs our schedule so we didn't know so much about the team so we would actually come out to play instead of relying on what we know about the other team."

The Jumbos are not out like a fat kid in dodge ball and do expect to bounce back like Cris Carter.

"We're not going to let this loss retard our momentum," Dale said. "We'll be full steam ahead come Tuesday and proceeding games."