MEDFORD, MA (September 25, 2026) – The No. 11 ranked Tufts University men's soccer team registered their second shutout draw of the fall in a non-conference contest against the Engineers of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Bello Field.
 
The Jumbos (4-1-2, 2-1-1 NESCAC), held the majority of possession throughout the contest, but Savio Ketnouvong, the Engineer goalkeeper, and the WPI back line stood tall and refused to let the Jumbos find the back of the net. The Engineers (0-4-4, 0-0-1 NEMAC), had some threatening chances of their own, but the Jumbos goalkeeper kept them off the scoreboard.
 
The clash featured eight overall shots on goal between the two sides, with four rips coming from each team.
 
The first shot of the game came at the 9:21 mark, when Henry Brown sent a ball towards the top left side of the goal, but the Engineer netminder made a sprawling save to poke the ball over the crossbar.
 
The Jumbos were applying pressure early on as they recorded four shot attempts with two reaching the target across a ten minute span. Ellis Denby put one high, Ryan Rizvi missed over the top on a shot close to the edge of the box, Xavier Canfin put an easy low center shot on goal from the 18 yard line, and Canfin fired off another low screamer that was pushed off to the side from Ketnouvong.
 
Tufts entered halftime with a commanding nine to one lead in the shot department, also leading heavily with seven corner kicks compared to WPI's one.
 
Nikola Antic tallied three of his four saves in the second half, as the Engineer's found a strategy that worked and put the pressure on the Jumbos.
 
The Blue and Brown showed their desperation to score in the waning minutes, putting together their most threatening chances in the final seven minutes. Bijan Akhtarzandi-Das had two close calls that had the fans ready to cheer. The first came when the ball found Akhtarzandi-Das six feet from goal after a corner kick from Canfin, but the midfielder put a shot wide left. Bijan then labeled the crossbar on a half-volley attempt with just under 40 seconds remaining.
 
Both Antic and Ketnouvong stopped four shots apiece, while Ben Brown and Akhtarzandi-Das played the full 90 for the Jumbos. For Antic, this was his third shutout of the season and the 27th of his remarkable career.

The Jumbos are back in action on Bello Field this Monday against No. 5 Babson at 7 PM.