Box Score MONTCLAIR, NJ - Tufts scored two goals just three minutes apart late in regulation to earn a stunning 3-2 win at host Montclair State in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship on Sunday night.
Junior back Daniel Sullivan scored to tie the game 2-2 at the 83:10 mark and senior tri-captain Connor Brown tallied the game-winner at 86:20. Head coach Josh Shapiro's Jumbos advance to a third-round match next Saturday against Kenyon. The site has not yet been announced.
Tufts, the defending NCAA champion, improved to 11-4-3 with the victory. It was the eighth straight game that the Jumbos won away from home in NCAA Tournament play. Tufts was the first team to ever win the national championship with six wins on the road last year. They defeated Salisbury 2-1 in the first round at Montclair on Saturday.
Montclair State, ranked fourth in the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America regular-season poll, saw its season end at 19-3-1.
The Jumbos found their offense on set pieces in the game, also scoring off a free kick to get on the scoreboard first in the 27th minute. Sophomore back Conor Coleman headed in the pass from senior Rui Pinheiro for a 1-0 Jumbo advantage.
The high-powered Montclair State offense, ranked fifth nationally averaging 3.52 goals per game entering the weekend, had bids by leading scorer Mike Olla surrounding the Tufts goal. Prior to the goal, Tufts junior keeper Scott Greenwood charged out to stuff a shot by Olla. After Tufts took a 1-0 lead, Olla's curling shot in the 30th minute was grabbed by Greenwood.
Tufts nearly took a 2-0 lead in the 36th minute when junior Nathan Majumder served a pass to the front of the goal where senior tri-captain Jason Kayne put a head on it, but Montclair goalie Mike Saalfrank made an outstanding reaction save.
After a strong shot by Montclair's Aaron Rose missed wide from the right side, the hosts would tie the score after a Jumbo foul in the box. With 1:47 remaining until halftime, freshman Matt Hendrickson converted the penaly kick with a blast just inside the left post to tie the game 1-1 heading into halftime.
Both teams came out of the intermission with strong scoring bids. Olla beat Greenwood to a loose ball in the box, but his bicycle kick of the bouncing ball missed the open goal. In somewhat of a foreshadowing of things to come, Sullivan's header of a Pinheiro corner kick was saved nicely by Saalfrank.
Dominating play for a spell 10 minutes into the second half, Montclair grabbed a 2-1 lead in the 55th minute. Olla scored from close in at the right post after taking a pass from Hendrickson. The strike was his 15th of the year.
A minute later, shots by Olla and Hendrickson from in close were saved by Jumbo defenders to keep the Red Hawks' lead at just one.
As the second-half clock wound down past 20 minutes, the Jumbos took over. Earlier, senior back Monil Patel made a run to the right post and had his redirection of a ball from the left side miss just wide.
Tufts had a potential game-tying goal by Gaston Becherano negated by an offsides call in the 76th minute. A laser by Kane from the top of the box was just high in the 81st minute. However, Tufts would soon capitalize on their momentum.
Sullivan, who had scored in Tufts' win over #16 Salisbury in the first round, scored for the second time in as many days. He had one goal in 33 career games for the Jumbos entering the weekend, but his header with 6:50 remaining in regulation tied the score at 2-2.
The Jumbos continued to control the game, scoring on their next shot. Brown took a pass from Becherano and rifled a blast from 22 yards out on the left wing into the upper right corner of the goal 3:10 after Sullivan's goal making it 3-2 Jumbos. Brown had scored off a Becherano pass for the game-winner against Salisbury in the 62nd minute on Saturday.
Kayne's point-blank shot from 10 yards out nearly gave the Jumbos a 4-2 advantage, but Saalfrank made the save.
The Red Hawks had one final chance earning a corner kick with a minute remaining and a shot by Hendrickson was high.
Tufts finished with advantages of 17-14 in total shots and 9-7 in shots on goal.Corner kicks were 4-4.
Greenwood did not have a save in the second half and finished with three total for the win. Saalfrank stopped six shots for Montclair, three in each half.
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