Tufts Scores Eight for Most Goals in Eight Years, Dismantle Engineers

MEDFORD, MA (September 3, 2025) - Goals came aplenty for the Tufts University men's soccer team in their opening game of the 2025 season. The Jumbos pounded eight goals into the back of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineer's goal while the visitors mustered only a single score. The 8-1 final sent a strong message to the rest of the league as Tufts scored the most goals in a single game since a 10-0 win over Mt. St. Vincent in 2017.

It took just two minutes and thirty seconds for the Jumbos to find the back of the net for the first time in 2025. Senior Ben Pensky kicked off the campaign with a well-worked goal by driving the ball home off of graduate student Taylor Feinberg's cross. Senior Mateo Bargagna picked up the secondary assist by working the ball wide to Feinberg.

M.I.T. settled into the game soon after the opening tally, and for the majority of the second half the score remained the same. Increasing physicality led to a yellow card being issued to each team before substitute striker Ben Ortman stepped onto the pitch. In his freshman debut with the Jumbos, Ortman broke away from the Engineer's defense and netted his first goal in the brown and blue to put the Jumbos up by two.

A bizarre own-goal off of a Ben Brown throw-in gave the Jumbos a 3-0 lead at the break, and things were going well in the season opener. 

The second half opened with renewed ferocity in the physical entanglements between the two sides. Amid the chaos, M.I.T. forward Eric Lohse popped a goal past the sprawling keeper Nik Antic to put the Engineers on the board. The senior goalkeeper made a spectacular save earlier in the first half, and the traffic in front of him before the Lohse goal made it tricky to see where and when the shot came from. 

Bargagna earned another spot on the scoresheet with a goal of his own to cancel out the Engineer's goal just 10 minutes prior. It was a picturesque strike from the advancing fullback, driving a shot from a low angle into the top right of the corner after junior Xavier Canfin freed him with a through-ball up the left wing. With their fourth goal of the game the Jumbos were now in control of the affair, helped by a straight red card forcing the Engineers down to 10 men.

Dynamic transfer forward Henry Brown had an insatiable appetite for goal throughout the duration of the first half, but was held off the scoresheet by a narrow margin several times. The second half saw him score his first goal in the blue and brown as well after Will Nicholas was hauled down in the penalty area by the opposing netminder. Brown slid the ball home right down the middle - cool as can be - to put Tufts up 5-1. 

The remaining three goals were all scored by freshmen, as Gianluca Fallone stepped on as a substitute and wasted no time in scoring his debut goal for Tufts. He clearly enjoyed it, because he scored again with just five minutes left to go. Ortman also scored his second of the game, sprinting away from the pack to slide the ball between the opposing keeper's legs. 

It was a resounding victory to start the season, and a fantastic demonstration of the Jumbos' offensive dynamism ahead of a NESCAC contest against number 10 Williams on Saturday at 3:00 on Bello Field.