The men's soccer team added another tally in the win column on Bello Field last night, demolishing non-conference Plymouth State in its second straight 5-0 shutout victory. The Jumbos extended their winning streak to five games and are now 5-4-1 on the year, their first winning record of the 2006 season.
"We knew we were on a good streak, and today was really important," junior midfielder Alex Botwinick said. "They were a highly ranked team, and we had a great game. We're still proving to the rest of the league that we deserve to be winning the games."
Battling through inclement weather, the Jumbos out-ran and out-passed the Panthers from the opening whistle. After two near-misses off corner kicks in the first five minutes, sophomore Peter DeGregorio opened the scoring 6:31 into the match with a header over the outstretched hands of sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Shute.
Tufts did not wait long to bury all hopes of a Panther comeback. Less than a minute later, in a textbook play, freshman midfielder Bear Duker controlled in the middle and found Botwinick streaking down the left side of the pitch. Botwinick centered the ball to junior forward Dan Jozwiak, who fed the ball back out to the left for a cross. Botwinick hit a one-touch cross back into the box, and Jozwiak buried the ball in the upper left corner off a header.
The Jumbos and Panthers traded attacks and counterattacks for the next 20 minutes. Tufts eventually pushed the score to 3-0 with 15 minutes left in the half off a score by senior Mattia Chason.
Sophomore Sam James continued the Jumbos' scoring run seven minutes later off an assist by DeGregorio. Chason remained dangerous, and scored once again only two minutes after James' goal for a 5-0 lead. The match played out more evenly in the scoreless second half, with both defenses shutting down all plays from the opponent.
Tufts' precision passing, which allowed them to dominate the Panthers in the first half, has improved immensely since the start of the season
"We've just started bonding more as a team," Botwinick said. "That's something that we've been saying since the very beginning: that we just need to bond more. We've been working on passing plays in practice, but we've also just been meshing really well."
See Friday's Daily for further coverage.
- by Kelley Vendeland
