MEDFORD, MA (November 14, 2026) – The No. 1 ranked Tufts University men's soccer team matched up against Penn State-Abington in the First Round of the NCAA Divionsion III Tournament on Bello Field today and battled to a 1-0 victory over the Nittany Lions to advance into the second round match tomorrow.
 
The Jumbos (11-3-5) were dominant in time of possession and shot attempts in the second half and found the eventual game-winner in the 79th minute after consecutive corner kick chances. The Nittany Lions (11-3-5), held a slight advantage in the shot department in the first half, but were unable to find a way to put together scoring chances inside the box.
 
Penn State-Abington showed their offensive determination in the first half as they fired off four shot attempts and earned two corner kick chances in a nearly four minute span from the 24:25 mark to 28:06. Tufts' back line stayed poised and refuted those attacks.
 
Towards the end of the opening 45 minutes, the Jumbos were applying heavy pressure and took four shot attempts and registered two corner kicks in the final ten minutes before heading into the break.
 
At halftime, Penn State-Abington led 9-8 in shot attempts, while also earning six corner kicks compared to Tufts' four. Nikola Antic and Hector Ortiz both made two saves in the first 45 minutes of play.
 
The second half was a different story, as the Jumbos played with more of an edge and fired off the first six shot attempts within the first five minutes. Tufts also recorded three corner kick opportunities in the first 11 minutes out of the half, but Ortiz made multiple key plays to keep the Jumbos off the board.
 
The Jumbos found their game-winning tally in the 79th minute off their eighth corner kick chance of the half. Ellis Denby has been a corner specialist all season and delivered a perfect feed into the box that reached Alex Johnson, and he headed in his second game-winner of 2026.
 
Ortiz finished with eight saves for Penn State-Abington in the loss, while Antic ended the victory with three stops for Tufts. Bijan Akhtarzandi-Das and Ben Brown both saw the full 90 minutes of action for the Jumbos.
 
The Jumbos outshot the Nittany Lions 24-4 in the final 45 minutes to finish with a 32-12 advantage in the shot column.  
 
Tufts will take on Babson tomorrow in the NCAA Division III Second Round with kick off set to start at 1 PM.