For 110 minutes, Tufts went toe?to?toe with top?seeded Williams. However, there would be no Cinderella story for the Jumbos, who lost to the Ephs in penalty kicks after battling through regulation and overtime with neither team yielding a goal.
The Jumbos were playing in their first NESCAC semifinal game since 2001, against an undefeated Williams team that already has six NESCAC championships under its belt. Tufts also lost to Williams 1?0 earlier this year.
There was no doubt that was the Jumbos were coming in as the underdog, but they certainly played like a team expecting to win.
"Nerves didn't really play a factor," senior co?captain defender Pat Bauer said. "I thought there was more pressure on Williams because they're the top seed. Honestly, there was more pressure [last weekend] against Bowdoin, because we were the higher seed and we had just beaten them. We enjoyed coming in as the underdog."
Bauer also made it clear that, despite the lower ranking, the team expected nothing less than a win.
"Nothing was really expected from us, except from ourselves," Bauer said. "We always expect a lot from ourselves."
Once the game began, it was clear that Tufts was playing with a loose confidence that Williams lacked.
"We just pressured very well, which has been a staple of our strategy all year," junior goalie Wyatt Zeller said. "We got great turnovers by pressuring them up the field and turning them over in their half. We really created our chances that way." Zeller, starting in only the second tournament game of his career, saw only one shot on goal in the first half, allowing him to get comfortable against a typically potent Williams attack.
The typically dangerous Tufts attack failed to create any real opportunities to score, missing out on a golden chance to put the Ephs in a hole early. Despite taking 10 shots to Williams' five in the first half, Williams senior keeper Than Finan only had to save two shots.
The second half provided the excitement that usually accompanies two teams' frenzied attempts to score as the clock winds down.
After it took Williams over 20 minutes in the first period to record its first attempt on Zeller, it took the Ephs less than 10 minutes into the second period to fire a shot on goal. A Williams pass across the front of the goal was cleared away by a Tufts defender, but the ball landed perfectly to allow sophomore midfielder Michael Madding to rip a shot that was stopped by the fingertips of a leaping Zeller.
Only eight minutes later, a pass from senior midfielder Patrick Ebobisse led to a rocket from junior forward User Kushaina that Zeller was able to bat away.
Bauer credited the increase in chances for the Ephs to greater focus from Williams, as well as a frustrating inability for Tufts to successfully clear the ball away from its own half.
"They have a strong midfield, and they ended up doing a good job of playing the ball through the middle and then getting it out wide and attacking us from the flanks," Bauer said. "There was a little wind too that led to some poor clearances that gave them a chance to collect the ball in the midfield and attack us again."
Though Williams got several good looks at Zeller, the goalie stood his ground. With two minutes to go, Williams got perhaps its best chance of the game when Ebobisse gathered a cross into the box and fired on Zeller, who quickly stuck out his arm to bat away what seemed destined to be the game?winning shot.
"They picked up their intensity, but we kept them off the scoreboard, so we did alright," Zeller said.
The Tufts attack often found itself neutralized in the second half, with Williams keeping the ball on the Jumbos' side of the field. That left the Jumbos' leading goal scorer, sophomore MaximeHoppenot, without a shot on goal in the half.
Overtime started off with a bang as Tufts freshman midfielder RuiPinheiro launched a shot off the crossbar six minutes into the extra period. After that close call, though, neither team challenged the opposing keeper and the game headed to penalty kicks.
"I love PKs," Zeller said. "I was excited for the opportunity to make a play for the team in penalty kicks."
After Tufts and Williams each hit their first two shots, Finan blocked a shot from Hoppenot. Not to be outdone, Zeller made a diving save on sophomore Andres Burbank?Crump. After that, however, Finan was able to make yet another save, and Zeller was unable to counter on a shot from sophomore Chris Seitz that gave Williams the 4?2 victory.
The Ephs advanced to the NESCAC championship game, which they lost 2?0 to Amherst.
"I trust myself in a shootout, we just got a bad break," Zeller said. "If we had to do it again, I would have had the same shooters shoot, I probably would have made the same decisions. That's just how penalty kicks go."
With the loss, Tufts will be waiting nervously until this afternoon, when the bids for the NCAA tournament are released.
However, even without a bid to the tournament, there is no doubt that this has been the most successful season in many years for the men's soccer team. For seniors like Bauer, watching the progress of the team has been well worth the ride.
"It's been amazing, I couldn't ask for anything better," Bauer said. "I've been lucky to be on a team that has gotten significantly better every year, and I'm just happy I've been able to play a part in that."
