WILLIAMSTOWN, MA (October 29, 2022) – Tufts University drew with Williams College 1-1 on Saturday afternoon at Cole Field in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Tournament, but failed to advance in the Championship as the Ephs moved on thanks to a 4-3 edge in penalties after two scoreless overtime periods.
It was Tufts who got on the scoreboard first in the match in the 84
th minute.
Liam Gerken was dribbling across the box when he was taken down from a slide tackle. The Jumbos were given the penalty kick, and
Sean Traynor stepped up to take it. He buried it into the bottom right corner for a finish that put his side up 1-0.
Tufts was looking to defend for the remainder of the 90 minutes. Williams worked the ball forward and were on the attack with heavy pressure. They earned themselves a throw that was looking to be taken long. On the throw in, Nathan Song was pushed down in the box and was awarded a penalty with just 25 seconds left in the match. Song took the kick and buried it up the middle to deadlock the game and send things to overtime.
The game went into overtime for the first time this season as the rule was changed before the beginning of the 2022 season. Both sides battled in the middle third of the field back and forth with little chances to score as you could tell the sides were feeling the exhaustion of the 120-minute match. The match was set to head to penalty kicks for both sides.
The first penalty attempt taker was for Williams and the attempt was shut down by
Erik Lauta. Williams put in the rest of their kicks with class finishes. Williams on their fourth kick was able to tuck it away into the bottom left making it 3-2 for the score of kicks. However, Tufts tied it on a perfect tuck into the left side netting right past the keeper. Williams' fifth attempt was another finish into the corner, and it was 4-3. The final penalty kick of the game was taken by Tufts, and it was missed over the crossbar ending it 4-3 in favor of the Ephs.
Williams attempted 11 shots on the game while Tufts attempted nine of their own. Tufts earned themselves nine corners throughout and Williams was given five corners.
Erik Lauta for the Jumbos made four saves while opposite him Ben Diffley made one save in the game.
Williams advances in the NESCAC Tournament and improve their record to 6-1-9 whereas Tufts is 7-2-7 and will now await word on a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, announced a week from Monday.
--JUMBOS--
