Nor'easter News - Week 7

By Henry Loughlin

Recap of the Week

A wild last week of soccer was capped by Amherst’s 2-1 overtime win over Tufts that gives the Mammoths control of home field advantage in the NESCAC tournament. Earlier in the week, Babson pulled the shock of the season (so far), upending Tufts — who, on Sunday, was held to a 1-1 draw by host Hamilton — 2-0. The Jumbos, who find themselves in the unfamiliar position of second in the NESCAC, will look to respond in what has become arguably the most pivotal game of their season this weekend against Conn. College. Outside of the purview of the NESCAC, NEWMAC, and CCC, Thomas (ME) of the NAC has reason to be hopeful after a slow start, and its fans will want to keep an eye on the future.

Impressions

At this time last week, Tufts was still undefeated, with a draw on the road to Wesleyan the only time the Jumbos had failed to win thus far this season. Returning from a three-game road trip, the Jumbos head into this week with two losses and a draw, as they sit at 8-2-2 overall. And while Saturday’s loss to Amherst was the most consequential in terms of NESCAC standings and, thus, home field advantage, Wednesday’s defeat to Babson was definitely the more surprising result. In that game, Babson got two first half goals — one 10 minutes in, the second midway through the half — and while many expected the Tufts onslaught to come, it never did, and the Jumbos fell to a 2-0 defeat. Saturday, Tufts looked to end its poor run of form at Amherst, but while the Jumbos came out strong and took the lead through Gavin Tasker, the host Mammoths equalized about 10 minutes later through German Giammattei. The second half featured a number of chances for both teams, but neither was able to take advantage, and it was on to overtime. This game had all the features of a game petering out for a draw, but Amherst — sensing opportunity — took the kickoff in overtime and gave the ball to Giammattei, who stormed forward and finished the game 11 seconds into overtime for a massive Amherst win and control of the NESCAC race. At Hamilton on Sunday, Tufts went 1-0 up in the first half through Biagio Paoletta before Aidan Wood’s second half PK earned the Continentals a share of the spoils. Much has been made of Tufts’ “blip” — the Jumbos are 1-2-2 since winning at Bates on Sept. 28th — but it’s less that Tufts has played poorly and more that, while admittedly not at their sharpest, the ball hasn’t bounced in their way. If Tufts trusts its systems (the Jumbos usually line up 3-5-2 or 4-3-3) and personnel to persist, it seems likely to emerge from the rut — but it’ll have to be ready for a hungry Conn. side coming to town on Saturday.

Plenty of airtime has been given to the NEWMAC and CCC races, but another compelling battle for top spot is happening in the LEC. Eastern Conn. (11-2-0) and Rhode Island College (7-4-1) are both 4-1-0, and while the former’s superior non-conference record certain says something, the latter owns the head-to-head victory, a 3-2 win at home. Six of the nine conference teams have overall records above .500, with Western Connecticut (10-3-0 overall, 3-1-0 in conference) also in the hunt. Whether or not these teams are competitive enough to be listed among the shortlist of regional powers remains to be seen, but it has certainly made for an exciting conference race.

Despite having a “solid-if-not-superlative” record to this point, the Beavers earned their statement win on Tuesday, taking the game to Tufts when they could and finishing opportunistically. Yet while its well-publicized scalp was impressive, Babson still has some work to do in the NEWMAC race: the Beavers (7-4-2) downed Emerson 3-0 on Saturday to keep the good times rolling, but their conference record is a somewhat inauspicious 2-0-2. Interestingly enough, Babson has not won a NEWMAC title at home since 2010, so they might relish the role of road spoilers (Babson’s last two NEWMAC titles came at MIT and Wheaton (Mass.)); then again, first place Clark’s conference record of 3-1-0 is still well within reach. Overall, Babson has shown well in its big games and was unlucky to come away with nothing against Amherst and Brandeis in particular, although you’d be hard-pressed to say that both winners didn’t earn it given their statistical superiority in those games. Still, beating a Tufts team that hadn’t lost a game in 22 months is a massive result and will do Babson a world of confidence that it can hang with regional powers. The Beavers have no time to rest on the laurels of its great duo of results, though, as Conn. College comes to town on Tuesday. Rest assured, Babson will back itself to keep its positive run of form going and take control of the NEWMAC race.

Thomas of the NAC has competed well in recent years, winning the NAC conference championship in 2015 and 2018 before bowing out in the 1st Round of the NCAA Tournament. And while the Terriers had a rough start to this season, going 0-4-1 in their first five games, they have rebounded well, going 6-2-0 in their last eight, sitting at 6-6-1 overall. Moreover, they lead their conference race, and freshman Eric LaBrie — whose older brother, Adam, was a standout for Thomas between 2015 and 2018 — is joint-top of the NAC scoring charts with nine goals. While it appears that Thomas is in a healthy spot in its conference, it still has some work to do to improve its overall record. That said, with the offensive spark provided by the younger LaBrie — who set the single-season scoring record (26 goals) at Yarmouth High School, home of Maine’s most successful boys’ soccer program — they have all the makings of a team able to compete regionally in the years coming. Watch this space.

Upcoming Game of the Week: Tufts vs. Conn. College

Last year, Tufts vs. Conn. was billed as the decider of 1st place in the NESCAC. This year, it appears that game may have been the previous weekend’s Amherst vs. Tufts, but Conn. is still right in the hunt at 4-1-2 in the NESCAC (7-1-2 overall), the most recent game of which was a big 1-0 win over Bowdoin this past weekend. Tufts, meanwhile, cruised along through the early part of its season, ending September perfect for the second year in a row. However, October hasn't been as kind to the Jumbos, as they have gone 1-2-2 — a home win against Trinity (Conn.) sandwiched by draws to Wesleyan and Hamilton and losses to Babson and Amherst. All of these factors seem to point toward a competitive match where both teams will look to make big gains.

For all its success nationally, Tufts has had a tougher time with Conn. than most of its other opponents. Back in 2013, the year before Tufts’ maiden title, the Jumbos lost 2-1 at home in overtime to the visiting Camels. Josh Shapiro’s side then went on the road to Conn. the next year, winning 3-1, before Conn. came and crashed Tufts’ party with a 2-1 NESCAC quarterfinal victory in Medford, making the Jumbos selection to that year's NCAA tournament — which they ended up winning in surprise fashion — questionable. The next two years were a bit more fruitful for the Jumbos, as they won 3-2 in 2015 (at home) and 1-0 in 2016 (away), before the upstart Camels held the defending national champions to a 0-0 draw in Medford behind the goalkeeping prowess of then-freshman A.J. Marcucci. Last year, Tufts was again held to a 0-0 draw, this time in New London.

Looking at the stats, both teams have been prolific offensively, with Tufts scoring 28 goals to date and Conn. 24, although the latter has played two fewer games. In terms of goals per game, Tufts has averaged 2.33 while Conn. has averaged 2.4. At the other end of the pitch, Conn. seems to have the slight edge (GAA of 0.67 vs. 0.71), although the Jumbos — whose defensive numbers are certainly solid — have been admittedly attack-minded in playing to their strengths. The visiting Camels — who are eager to break into the two-team battle at the top of the NESCAC — will feel that they can come to Medford and get a result, but Tufts — who will have had six days to fester over its 0-2-1 stretch of results — is a wounded animal that will be eager to make a statement and eliminate the (relative) malaise that has surrounded the program these last couple of weeks. With two teams strong offensively and sound defensively, this one could end in a goal fest or a low-scoring affair. Time will tell, but an early goal for either team could well set the tone — the question is which side (if either) will get it.

Comments or feedback for the author? E-mail Henry Loughlin