MEDFORD, MA (November 12, 2023) -- The No. 20 Tufts University men's soccer squad will head back to the NCAA Tournament Third Round next weekend following a gritty, hard-fought 2-1 victory over the University of Rochester on Bello Field in the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Second Round Sunday afternoon.
The Jumbos (14-3-3) will battle Washington & Lee University at a site to determined follow after the Generals topped SUNY Oneonta 2-1 in its NCAA Second Round matchup. On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 overall seed Messiah University was upset 1-0 by Ohio Northern University, while Emory University fell at home to Colorado College in penalty kicks. The host institution for the games with Tufts, W&L, ONU and Colorado College will be announced in the coming hours.
The opening 20 minutes in Medford was slow to get going as the squads felt each other out, with the best chance coming in the 11th minute as a Nick Swanger shot was fended off by Jumbo keeper
Nikola Antic. In the 23rd minute the game got its breakthrough, as sophomore
Mateo Bargagna took a switch of field and lofted a cross into the box.
Liam Gerken was there to meet the cross, heading it into the right side netting for the 1-0 lead.
Less than four minutes later, Tufts possessed nicely and Gerken sprayed a ball out to the right wing for Bargagna, who got free with his left foot. His service was spot on, as
Sean Traynor snuck behind the defense and tucked his shot home for the 2-0 lead.
The game would settle down from that point as there were only three total shots the rest of the half, though
Taylor Feinberg nearly put Tufts up 3-0 in the 44th minute as his header was saved off the right post and out.
The second half saw the game pick up but it was Rochester who pressed for most of the frame. The Jumbos had another Grade A scoring opportunity in the 48th minute by
Ethan Feigin, but Santino Lupica-Tondo made a great save to keep it 2-0. Traynor and Gerken each also almost tallied for a second time as well, but both were denied on great chances, which gave the Yellowjackets some momentum.
That momentum would lead to Rochester getting on the board in the 71st minute, as Avi Lamba corralled a loose ball and buried a shot off a deflection to make it 2-1. Eight minutes later, Rochester looked destined to tie the game up as Swanger came in alone with Antic, but the Jumbos keeper made back-to-back point blank saves to keep Tufts ahead.
Those shots would be the final ones of the game for Rochester, as the Jumbos were able to defend well while icing the game away for the 2-1 triumph.
Antic finished with five stops while earning another victory, and Bargagna tallied assists on both Jumbo goals. Traynor's four shot attempts were the most of any Jumbo, while both squad fired 13 attempts for the game. Swanger took six shots for UoR, while Lupica-Tondo also stopped five shots.
Tufts will be making their eighth trip to the NCAA Third Round since 2013, as the Jumbos look for their fifth national title.
--JUMBOS--
