NEW LONDON, CT (September 21, 2025) -- Senior
James Flagg headed home a beautiful corner from classmate
Daniel Yanez in the 86th minute, lifting the Tufts University men's soccer team to a huge 2-1 road win at Connecticut College in action from Tempel Green Sunday afternoon.
The win was the third straight for Tufts (5-1-1, 2-1-1 New England Small College Athletic Conference), while the victory vaulted the Jumbos all the way up into second place in the conference thanks to back-to-back conference wins this weekend. Tufts also topped Hamilton College 1-0 Saturday afternoon.
As for Sunday's game, both teams had a lot of the ball and each were willing to get forward as the squads combined for 26 shots in the contest. The best chance in the first half for the Jumbos came when junior
Xavier Canfin pressured CC keeper TJ Krongard, who turned the ball over to Canfin. He passed the ball in front to a teammate but the shot was blocked before it could find the empty net.
Things would pick up in the second half, as Tufts started to possess the ball more as they tallied a 53 percent possession total in the second frame. The Jumbos had a great chance in the 57th minute as Canfin had an attempt whiz just wide.
Minutes later, Tufts defended a loose ball in the box and countered the other way as Canfin fed a ball through to junior
Henry Brown. Brown took two touches and then was taken down in the box as the Jumbos were awarded a penalty. Senior
Henry Perkins stepped up and netted his team-high third goal and second penalty goal to make it 1-0.
The Jumbos lead would be short lived though, as Connecticut College scored an equalizer on a free kick goal by Marco Perugini at 69:43 to deadlock the game at one.
Tufts wouldn't give in though, as it earned three corner kicks over a 90 second sequence. On the third and final attempt, Yanez played a perfect ball in to the head of Flagg, who pounded home from just inside the six-yard box for the game-winning score at 85:07.
The Camels would have a few more attempts at a tying goal over the final minutes but the Jumbos blocked the final shot of the game in the 86th minute to secure the NESCAC win.
Conn. College (2-2-3, 0-2-2 NESCAC) outshot the Jumbos 15-11 for the game, while Tufts earned a slight 6-5 edge in corner kicks. Both teams accumulated 15 fouls, and senior
Nikola Antic made two saves in the victory.
Tufts will have a week to recover before hosting Wesleyan University at 2:30 p.m. on Bello Field in Medford, MA in more NESCAC play.
--JUMBOS--
