MEDFORD, MA – Tufts takes down the number 7
th ranked Middlebury in a 1-0 battle on Saturday afternoon at Bello Field for a senior day victory.
Coming into the game Middlebury was sitting in first place in the NESCAC rankings, while Tufts was battling to move up in the rankings. The game that played out was a physical one that had a lot of early fouls to set the tone of a NESCAC showdown.
Woovin Shin of Tufts broke the 0-0 score in the 13
th minute of play.
Henry Perkins was taken down just outside of the box with a harsh challenge that set the Jumbos into free kick range. Shin stepped up for the kick and he smashed it home into the side netting past the keeper. Shin had come into the game just one minute prior, and his wonder kick was his first touch on the ball. The rest of the first half played out in a back-and-forth contest between the two sides with gritty play, but no one else was able to join in on the scoring.
Early in the second half of play
Zach Seigelstein lead an attack from his own half forward into the attacking third displaying a great bit of skill. He was able to get to the corner of the box and play a ball across to the back post where
Daniel Yanez was waiting. Yanez let a shot go, but it was blocked away, for what would've been a great scoring opportunity.
In the 66
th minute of play Panthers goalie Ryan Grady had a stellar stop to keep his team only down by one. There was a shot taken by
Ethan Feigin that Grady stopped, but the rebound bounced out to
Mason Shultz who headed what he believed would've been an open net finish. Brady recovered quickly and made the save on the goal line.
Middlebury had a chance to score an equalizer with just one minute left in the match. There was a scramble of play in the box off of a corner, that caught Jumbo's goalkeeper
Erik Lauta out of the net. The ball came down to Jordan Saint-Louis, who got his shot off, but it just missed wide of the net, and the result held at 1-0 in favor of Tufts.
Middlebury outshot Tufts 13 to seven on the afternoon. The two sides were even on corner kicks won with both having two. Ryan Grady for the Panthers made three saves, while opposite him
Erik Lauta made five saves.
Tufts improves their record to 7-2-5, 3-2-4. Middlebury is now 9-2-3, 5-2-2. The Jumbos look ahead to Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when they'll take on Bowdoin at Bello Field for the last game of the regular season.
