Box Score MEDDFORD, Mass. – The Tufts University men's soccer team advanced in the NCAA tournament on penalty kicks for the second game in a row today. After playing to a 0-0 tie in regulation against Johns Hopkins University, the Jumbos (15-1-4) got the best of the Blue Jays (16-1-4), 4-1, in PKs.
Tufts started off the penalty kicks the same way as last time, with Zach Lane and Conor Coleman going first and both converting. For Johns Hopkins, Cole Rosenberger went first and scored on one right down the middle. Griffin Cypher was next for the Blue Jays, but Conner Mieth came up big for the home team with a save on a bouncing ball that he stopped diving to his left.
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Jack Delaney was third for Tufts and converted a shot of his own. Then, for John Hopkins, Connor Jacobs' shot got past Mieth, but hit the left post and ricocheted out. Freshman Travis Van Brewer stepped up with a chance to win it for the Jumbos and that's exactly what he did. He hit a hard ball into the net as the goalie guessed in the opposite direction.
It was the second game in a row that Tufts won on penalty kicks. In the first, against St. Jospeh's in the second round, the winning goal came off the foot of Dexter Eichhorst. This time, his teammates did enough to win before the kicks even got to him.
The Jumbos peppered the net with shots all game long, ending with a 17-8 advantage, but weren't able to convert.
In the 32nd minute a header from Coleman off of a corner kick from Delaney went just high. In the 45th minute, Christian Zazzali fed a ball through a couple defenders to Alex Ratzan whose shot was saved by Bryan See for Johns Hopkins.
The Blue Jays had a couple chances in the second half. In the 51st minute, their leading scorer, Achim Younker, broke through the back line of Tufts' defense, but his off-balance shot went wide left. Then in the 72nd minute, Coleman and Matthew MacFarquhar were battling for a bouncing ball in the Jumbo box, but Mieth came over and scooped it up and out of danger.
In the first few minutes of overtime, Zach Lane played a ball off his chest to Matt Zinner who got a hard shot off, but See made a diving save. In the 99th minute, a header by Sterling Weatherbie hit the crossbar.
See made five saves on the day, while Mieth made two. Tufts held the advantage in corners, 7-0, and the Jumbos were called for more than twice the number of fouls as the Blue Jays, 23-9.
Tufts will play in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Division III Championship tomorrow at Bello against Brandeis, a 1-0 winner over Drew in Saturday's other third-round game played at Bello Field.
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Written by Curtis Stoychoff, Atheltic Communications Intern
