AMHERST - Buoyed by a trio of second-half scores, the fourth-ranked Amherst Lord Jeffs earned a 3-0 win over the Tufts University Jumbos in NESCAC men's soccer action on Saturday afternoon at Hitchcock Field.
Hoping to get Tufts off to a fast start, senior Naji Muakassa (Jamesville, NY) registered the game's first shot on goal just two minutes after the opening whistle. With both defenses settling in, the squads combined for just three shots over the next 25 minutes of action before Amherst junior Alejandro Sucre (Caracas, Venezuela) tested Tufts senior keeper Alan Bernstein (Wayne, NJ) with a header in the 29th minute.
Still scoreless in the 34th minute, junior Spencer Noon (Farmington, CT) put another Lord Jeff shot on net, but Bernstein recorded his second save of the afternoon to keep the Jumbos even.
Amherst junior Jared Hedglin (Brooklyn, NY) and Sucre later headed a pair of shots toward net off of a couple of Lord Jeff free-kicks, but Bernstein again met the challenge, making both stops to preserve the tie heading into the intermission.
Coming out of the break, Tufts won a pair of early corners, but a steady Amherst backline cleared both tries without surrendering a shot. Still looking for the game's first tally, Amherst pushed forward just shy of the 50-minute mark.
Playing on the far side, sophomore Max Fikke (New York, NY) sent a cross into the middle of the box, looking for sophomore Jae Heo (Changwon, South Korea). Going to the air, he won the ball, heading it into the left corner to stake Amherst to a 1-0 lead with his fifth marker of the season.
Just four minutes later, senior Thebe Tsatsimpe (Johannesburg, South Africa) served another cross from the right side of the pitch into the box. This time, Noon tracked down the pass on the near post, heading it into the right corner.
Looking for more, junior Chris Lerner (Canton, MA) sent a free kick off the crossbar in the 59th minute, narrowly missing a chance to extend the Amherst advantage.
With just over 30 minutes remaining, Sucre capped off a string of three Lord Jeff scores in just 11:34 of game action, alertly corralling the rebound off of a Noon shot before catching Bernstein out of position for his second goal of 2011.
The Lord Jeffs finished with a 19-9 shot advantage while the Jumbos held a 4-2 edge in corners. Bernstein made seven saves in the loss and Amherst senior Lennard Kovacs (Wolfersdorf, Germany) finished with five stops.
With the win, Amherst improved to 7-0-0 overall on the year with a 4-0-0 league ledger, while the Jumbos fell to 3-2-1 (1-2-1).
Tufts will be back at home on Sunday afternoon when they host Trinity at 3 pm. Amherst returns to action on Monday against Lesley.
Match statistics
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Match release courtesy of Amherst College
