WILLIAMSTOWN, MA (November 8, 2026) – The No. 4 ranked Tufts University men's soccer team captured their second consecutive New England Small Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Title after defeating eight-seed Amherst, 1-0, on Cole Field in Williamstown, MA this afternoon.
 
The Jumbos (10-3-5, 5-3-2 NESCAC), capitalized on a corner kick opportunity in the second half and stood tall defensively to keep Amherst off the board. Nikola Antic was remarkable in goal  yet again for Tufts, as he tied his season in saves again with seven stops to help Tufts collect their fifth conference championship victory. The Mammoths (8-4-6, 2-3-5 NESCAC), entered the championship contest with confidence after defeating the top two seeds in the first two rounds, but ran into hot goaltending and could not become the second ever eight-seed to win the conference trophy.
 
Amherst came out of the gates hungry and focused as they registered the first nine shot attempts of the game and were hemmed in the Jumbos defensive end. Antic picked up two saves on the two shots that were on target out of that bunch and kept the contest deadlocked at zero.
 
As we headed into the halftime break, Amherst was dominating possession and led comfortably in the shot department, 12-1. The Mammoths also held a four to zero advantage in corner kick chances and Antic ended the first 45 minutes with four total saves.
 
The Jumbos opened the second half with stronger offensive pressure and found the back of the net to take a one-goal lead in the 53rd minute. Tufts earned a corner kick chance and Ellis Denby delivered an accurate feed that reached Ben Brown, and Brown rose up and headed the ball into the far left side of the goal to beat the Mammoth netminder.

For the remainder of the match, Amherst was desperate to find an equalizer, as they fired off two sots and tallied two corner kick opportunities in the final six minutes, but were unable to find a game-tying score.
 
Antic grabbed three additional saves in the second half to end the conference championship with seven saves, the victory, and his seventh shutout of the fall. Riley Gray, Bijan Akhtarzandi-Das, Marcos Santana, and Ryan Rizvi saw the full 90 minutes of action in the win.
 
The Jumbos earned their fifth NESCAC Title in program history with the win and went back-to-back in two straight years for the first time ever.
 
With the conference championship victory Tufts earns an automatic birth in the NCAA Tournament. Selections for the NCAA Tournament will be announced tomorrow at 11:30 AM.