Box Score MEDFORD - Senior Rui Pinheiro scored in the 17th minute and the Tufts defense made it stand as the Jumbos posted a 1-0 victory over Gordon College in non-conference men's soccer action Tuesday at Kraft Field.
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| Rui Pinheiro's first goal of the season was the only goal of the match |
Pinheiro leads the Jumbos in assists this season (3) and last (8), but he looked every bit like a goal scorer on Tuesday. He took a feed from sophomore Tyler Kulcsar and drove a shot from 25 yards out into the right side of the net eluding Gordon junior goalkeeper Josh Spoonhour's dive. The goal was Pinheiro's first in 29 games.
The Jumbos blanked a Gordon team which had been shutout only once in 11 previous games this year. The best chance for the Fighting Scots came off a corner kick just five minutes following the Tufts goal. Sophomore Joshua Cochran's shot from right in front was saved by Jumbo sophomore defender Conor Coleman.
Coleman was strong throughout the contest as Tufts earned its sixth shutout and second in a row. Junior goalkeeper Scott Greenwood, who became the program's all-time leader in shutouts against Middlebury on Saturday and now has 24, made two saves.
Tufts finished with a 16-6 advantage in shots, but only 5-3 in attempts on net. Coleman also had one of the Jumbos' better offensvie opportunities when his header of a Sterling Weatherbie corner kick was just high late in the first half. Spoonhour totaled four saves for the Fighting Scots.
For Gordon, junior Caleb Cole put a free kick on net that Greenwood saved easily, and the Tufts goalie also smothered header by Gordon sophomore Jerry Williams on an early second-half corner opportunity.
Corners finished at 6-1 for Tufts (7-3-1), who won for the second game in a row after going winless in four straight. Gordon saw a seven-match winning streak end as they dropped to 9-3.
Tufts hits the road to Bates College on Saturday for NESCAC action at 2 pm. Gordon is at Nichols in a Commonwealth Coast Conference contest on Saturday at 11 am.
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