The men's soccer team's playoff hopes took a big blow on Saturday, as the Jumbos were shut out 2-0 by the defending national champion Middlebury Panthers (7-0-1, 5-0-1).
The loss dropped the Jumbos to 5-4-1 overall with a trifling 1-4 record in NESCAC play. Tufts is now tied for second-to-last place in the conference and must have multiple good showings in its final four games if it is to have any hope of making the eight-team conference tournament in November.
Those next four games will almost undoubtedly be easier than Saturday's, considering nationally-ranked No. 4 Middlebury's résumé entering the match. The win increased the Panthers' unbeaten streak to 17, dating back to last year, and it was the team's 14th shutout during that span.
While Middlebury's offensive statistics are not particularly gaudy compared to the rest of the league, the Panthers lead the NESCAC in fewest goals allowed and overall points allowed by fairly large margins. Even more telling, Middlebury goalies have made fewer saves than those from any other team this year, including Tufts, whose goalies have made the most saves in the league this year.
In regard to these figures, Saturday's game held true to form. The Panthers peppered senior goalie Dave McKeon and the Tufts defense for 24 total shots while the Jumbos managed only three.
After one minute of play, the defending champion Panthers demonstrated why they're still the team to beat in the conference. Freshman forward Tyler Macnee headed in a cross from junior forward Stephen Hart to give the home team a quick 1-0 lead. It was Macnee's team-leading seventh goal of the season.
"I thought we had a good chance to go up there and upset them," said McKeon, who finished with seven saves on the day. "But they scored the early goal and that made it difficult for us to come back."
The Panthers made a comeback even more trying, as seven minutes into the second half, sophomore midfielder Carson Cornbrooks fired an accurate through-ball that was subsequently buried by junior midfielder Andrew Banadda. The tally was Banadda's first of the season.
"They're very simple and they don't make mistakes with the ball," McKeon said of the Middlebury offense. "They're just very organized and they get off a lot of shots."
A healthy portion of the Panthers' 24 total shots were produced from their eight corner kicks. Tufts, meanwhile, struggled to simply match its miniscule shot total, with only three corners for the day.
"We knew they were going to be physical, so we needed to come out and match their physical ability; that was our main mindset," said freshman David Orlowitz, who recorded one shot on the afternoon. "They were a very experienced team, they had some good speed and they knew how to finish."
Finishing has been the main problem for Tufts this year. The Jumbos have lost three out of their last four games, and all of the losses have been shutouts. What's more, Tufts has been in the bottom third of the NESCAC in goals scored for the majority of the season.
The Jumbos will look for an offensive spark on Saturday against visiting Williams, though it certainly won't be easy against an Ephs team that is currently 7-2 overall and boasts a 4-1 NESCAC record.
"We need to win so we can make the playoffs," Orlowitz said. "We need to win two of our next games."
After Williams, Tufts has another home tilt against Wesleyan (3-5-1, 2-2-1), followed by away games at Trinity (8-2, 4-2) and Bowdoin (4-4, 3-3) to close out the season.
"We have a lot of hard teams ahead of us," McKeon said. "And we need a couple of results to make the playoffs, but I know that we have the ability to beat good teams, so starting this weekend, we need to go out and get a result against Williams."
