 |  |
Young Talent Blending with Experience Has #5 in New England Men's Soccer Clicking
|
| Gus Santos leads the NESCAC
in freshman scoring |
MEDFORD - The biggest surprise of the 2011 NESCAC Men's Soccer season has been the Tufts Jumbos, who currently sport an 8-2-2 overall record and are third in NESCAC with a 4-2-2 mark. Two years removed from a 2-10-2 season, the team jumped into the New England Division III poll this week all the way up at number five.
Second-year head coach Josh Shapiro has the team believing in its ability to compete at the top of the competitive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). A combination of exciting young talent and veteran leadership has been the right mix for the Jumbos. Three freshmen lead the squad in scoring this fall - Gus Santos (Framingham, MA) with six goals and five assists for 17 points, Kyle Volpe (Blackstone, MA) at 3-4-10 and Maxime Hoppenot (Princeton, NJ) at 4-0-8.
"The upperclassmen have shown great support," Volpe said. "They have confidence in the younger guys and really push us to our full potential. They're all great leaders. Also, the depth that our team has plays a large role in our success. Not a single player is guaranteed a starting position, so every player treats his time on the field like it's a playoff game. This kind of culture forces everyone to give their best on a daily basis."
The freshmen have been especially productive in extra time. Tufts has three overtime wins, with Volpe figuring in all three goals and Santos scoring two. Hoppenot scored both goals when the Jumbos had a 2-1 win over Williams College, just the second time Tufts has defeated the Ephs since 1995. When Tufts beat Suffolk 6-1 last night for the program's best offensive output in 10 years, Santos had two goals with an assist and Volpe had one of each.
"Being the first recruiting class of Coach Shapiro, we want to be major factors in turning the program around," Santos said. "Coach Shapiro has brought upon a top notch goal for us and that is to qualify for the NCAA tournament. In order to get there we need to continue exuding maximum effort in practice, caring for ourselves off the field, and having a positive mentality."
With challenging conference road games remaining at Hamilton on Saturday and at 2010 national semi-finalist Bowdoin on October 26, the team's fate is still to be determined. However, their current six-game undefeated streak - the program's longest since 1999 - is a sign that the turn-around is well underway. Led by tri-captains Alan Bernstein (Wayne, NJ), Matt Blumenthal (Simsbury, CT) and Pat Bauer (Portland, OR), the team has gelled even better than anyone could have expected.
"From the get-go, our mission was to be in the top half of the NESCAC table with the even more audacious goal being to make the NCAA tournament this year," Hoppenot said. "I think everyone was on board because we knew the quality we had, but it was a question of making sure everyone clicked at the right time and as fast as possible, because it was necessary to bring to 10 freshmen up to speed very quickly."
With one week remaining in the 2011 regular season, the Tufts Jumbos have become a force to be reckoned with in NESCAC Soccer.
#
