Box Score 
MEDFORD - With another NESCAC Championship trophy in their cabinet from last weekend, Tufts Men's Soccer began the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a clinical 5-1 win over New England College on Saturday at Bello Field. Senior defender Ian Daly scored as many goals as the number on his back as he went for a hat trick to send the Jumbos to the next round.
Tufts will play either Swarthmore or Stevens in the second round at Bello on Sunday at 3:00 PM.
The Jumbos may have underestimated the champions of the New England Collegiate Conference as the host's usual intensity didn't come until the second half. Tufts opted for three in the back to try and gain an advantage on the offensive end by playing Ian Daly and Max Cook at wing back. The strategy played out in the long run as Daly went for three goals and Tufts goalie Eric Laura only allowed one in his net.
The first half featured some great chances for the Jumbos, including a Sean Traynor shot that went over the goal in the first three minutes of the game. With the wind on their side, the Jumbos attacked the Pilgrims' midfield with their clear size advantage, although their physicality often led to foul calls. The first and only goal of the first 45 came from a pinball in the box where Zach Seigelstein attempted a shot that ended up falling perfectly to the foot of Daly, who had an open goal and nonchalantly tucked the ball into the back of the net in the 37th minute.
Right before the Tufts goal, the Pilgrim's had their best scoring chance of the half when Julian Duarte tapped the ball into space for junior Wiskens Flavil to fire a shot from the top right of the box, but it knuckled wide.
Then in the first minute of the second half, Pilgrims midfielder Panagiotis Galatas found himself with a ton of space about 30 yards out and struck the ball on goal. Lauta dove to his left and the ball just hit off the crossbar and fell to Tucker Stenger who scored to even it up at 1-1.
With the momentum finally working in favor of the Pilgrims, they had their turn at forcing the attack, but the Jumbos quickly regained control of the game. In the 51st minute, Travis Van Brewer sent a ball into the box that first went off the head of Calvin Aroh to the head of Biagio Paoletta who flicked the ball to Daly at the back post to give him another easy finish in the 52nd minute.
Tufts did not let up as Mati Cano made his presence known in the 61st minute by using a beautiful move to get past his defender on the far side, and then sending a ball to Daly who took a touch and struck the ball into the back of the next to give himself the hat trick and Tufts the two-goal cushion (3-1). Another goal came in the 64th minute as Aroh played a great through ball to Max Jacobs who hit the ball with his right foot low and hard to make the score 4-1.
Shortly after the fourth Jumbo goal, Lauta made his only save of the game on a long shot by Galatas from well outside the goal area.
The Jumbos held onto their lead for the duration of the match and in the final minute, a hard foul from the Pilgrims right outside of their own box gave Seigelstein a free kick that he smashed into the goal as the clock ticked closer to zero.
Tufts ended the day with 27 shots and eight corners, while their opponents had eight shots and no corners. Hayden Walker finished with 10 saves for NEC, while Lauta made one for the Jumbos.
> 2021 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship Bracket
Written by Issac Karp, Athletic Communications Student Assistant
