MEDFORD, MA (November 23, 2025) -- First-year defender
Alex Johnson scored off of a half-volley on a free kick service from
Mason Shultz in the second half, and that proved to be the game-winning tally as the No. 1 Tufts University men's soccer team punched its ticket to the NCAA Final Four with a thrilling 2-1 win over No. 10 Bowdoin College in play from Bello Field Sunday afternoon.
The Jumbos (18-1-3) move into into the NCAA Semifinals of the 2025 Division III Tournament and will face St. Olaf College on December 5 at Kerr Stadium on the campus of Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. It wil be the fifth appearance for the Jumbos in the NCAA semifinals, as Tufts is searching for its fifth national crown as well. Tufts won the 2016 crown in Salem, Virginia, knocking off Calvin College that season for their second NCAA title.
The game was a physical, back-and-forth contest becoming of a pair of teams that play against each other often. Tufts and Bowdoin had drawn in each of its last three matches, while the last seven games have been either ties or one-score games.
The Jumbos got on the board in the 16th minute after junior
Xavier Canfin picked up the second corner kick of the game for Tufts. On the ensuring set piece,
Daniel Yanez played a ball into the mix near the back post, where it struck the back of a head of a Polar Bear defender and on goal. Alex Ainsworth made a good save to keep the ball out, but junior
Ben Brown left-footed the loose ball in for the opener for the Jumbos. The score was the Brown's third of the season.
Tufts nearly doubled its lead in the 22nd minute, as
Ellis Denby was put in alone by Canfin but he couldn't finish the through ball as it stayed 1-0. Bowdoin started to get into the game after that point, and would equalize in the 43rd minute as Felipe Duran scored off a nice cross towards the top of the box by Paul Surkov to tie the game going into halftime. Both teams took four shots in the first half.
The Polar Bears would have the the ball for a decent amount of time in the second stanza, and had a solid chance by Mateo Pacelli stopped by
Nikola Antic in the 50th minute.
The game-winner would come in the 75th minute though, as
Henry Brown drew a foul about 40 yards off to the right side in front of the Jumbos' bench. Shultz played a brilliant free kick into the box, and the first-year calmly finished out of the air with a rocket into the right corner to make it 2-1.
Bowdoin had the ball for a lot of the final 18 minutes as Tufts went into defensive mode, but the Polar Bears would manage just three shots over the rest of regulation in closing out the win.
Canfin was the best player on the field on Sunday, as he was crucial for the Jumbos despite not having a goal involvement. The defensive unit, led by
Ben Brown and
Bijan Akhtarzandi-Das, were strong and Antic made five stops to earn yet another win in goal.
Bowdoin posted a 11-9 edge in shots, along with a 6-4 shots on goal advantage, while also earning an 8-3 corner kick lead. It was the second all-time meeting between Tufts and Bowdoin in the NCAA Tournament, as Tufts posted a 3-1 win over Bowdoin in the NCAA Third Round back in 2000.
It will be the first NCAA Final Four appearance for head coach
Kyle Dezotell, who is making his sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach.
--JUMBOS--
