The men’s soccer team unloaded a barrage of shots at Tufts on Tuesday, and when the smoke cleared, two had reached the back of the net and the Cards came away with a 2-1 victory.
The Cardinals, who have won their first three games by 2-1 margins, put 16 shots on the board, compared to four from the Jumbos. This was the team’s first win against Tufts since the 2002 campaign, in which the Cards posted a 2-1 victory in Medford. It was an especially sweet win for the seniors, who had never defeated Tufts.
“Every NESCAC win is a good win, but this was especially nice to go in there and beat them on their field like that,” said tri-captain Peter Glidden ’07.
Neither team scored in the first half of play, although Wesleyan had seven shots in the first 45 minutes. Tufts’ offense was anemic on Tuesday and had zero shots in the first half. The best they could manage was a corner kick that was well off the mark.
Wesleyan was constantly on the offensive, evidenced by 16 shots, as well as eight off-sides penalties in the game to Tufts’ one, but difficulty in converting those opportunities into goals plagued the squad in the first half.
Longtime Tufts coach Ralph Ferrigno must have said something right to his team at intermission, as it put a goal on the board 35 seconds into the second half. Mattia Chason scored on an assist from Alex Botwinick. It was the first goal of the year for the senior forward from Rome, Italy, perhaps inspired by his countrymen’s World Cup victory two months ago.
The lead didn’t last long, as Justin Mello ’08 provided the equalizer 11 minutes later off a beautiful touch from rookie Nick Whipple ’10. With just nine minutes remaining in regulation, Matt Nevin ’09 received a pass from Sam Griswold ’08 and tucked a “g,” giving Wesleyan its second NESCAC win of the year.
“I mean, we’ve played well,” said tri-captain Jared Ashe ’07. “You’ve got to respect your boys, but it’s early in the year, and we still have a lot to work on. We can still get better.”
Wesleyan has a demanding schedule coming up. The Cardinals travel to Middlebury on Saturday to take on the Panthers in an important NESCAC contest, and they will face Western New England College at home on Sunday. After two days of rest, the Cards will head to Coast Guard on Sept. 27. This stretch will be a good early season test of the squad’s endurance.
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