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Matt Blumental gave the Jumbos a 1-0 lead with his
first goal of the season
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AMHERST – The Amherst College men's soccer team took on
visiting NESCAC rival Tufts University this afternoon in a rare
Friday game for the two conference foes. The Lord Jeffs fell
behind by a goal with less than 20 minutes remaining in the second
half, but needed just over two minutes to equalize en route to a
1-1 double overtime draw.
Twice during the first half, Amherst goalie Lennard Kovacs
(Wolfersdorf, Germany) turned away breakaways from Tufts University
players to send the game scoreless into the break. The first
occasion came off of a misplayed free kick by Kovacs, leading to Franco
Silva's (Houston, TX) break. Silva dribbled around Kovacs, but
could not steer his shot into the open goal. On the second break of
the half, Silva freed himself from the Amherst back line, only to
push his shot wide right again.
The first goal of the game did not come until the 72nd minute.
Off a shot by Matt
Blumenthal (Simsbury, CT) an Amherst defender blocked the ball
on contact. The ball came back to Blumenthal, who laced the rebound
into the upper left side of the Amherst goal from just outside the
18-yard box.
Just 2:21 later, Amherst scored to tie the game at 1-1. Senior
captain Ian Rothkopf (Harvard, MA) served a ball in from the right
corner. Classmate Thebe Tsatsimpe (Johannesburg, S. Africa) settled
the ball on the far side of the 18-yard box, before lining a blast
off the underside of the crossbar for the equalizer.
The two teams both pushed numbers forward and played for the win
throughout the remainder of regulation and throughout a pair of
overtimes, but no goals would come. In the end, Amherst outshot
Tufts by a 17-7 margin, including 5-0 in the extra stanzas.
Kovacs finished with three saves in the game, while Alan
Bernstein (Wayne, NJ) made eight stops in net for the
Jumbos.
Tufts hosts Mass Maritime Academy under the lights at Bello
Field on Tuesday night at 7 pm. The Lord Jeffs will return to
action on Sunday afternoon for a 3 pm game at St. Joseph's
(ME).
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Game release courtesy of Amherst
College
