Middlebury entered the week ranked 5th in the HeroSports Men’s NCAA Division III Top 25.
After opening with a 2-1 NESCAC loss to BR-9 Williams, Middlebury played BR-4 Tufts to a scoreless tie in the rain. It was the third consecutive tie for Tufts. Both were double-overtime encounters.
The Panthers are 5-2-2 overall and 2-2-2 in the NESCAC. Tufts’ Jumbos are 3-0-2 in the conference and 5-1-3 overall.
Williams’ triumph improved it’s NESCAC record to 3-2-0. The club is 4-3-1 overall.
Middlebury and Tufts battled for 110 minutes without a goal.
Tufts’ best chance of the first half came in the 16th minute with a pair of attempts. Monil Patel chipped a ball into the box where Jason Kayne took three quick dribbles before ripping a hard shot that was saved by Panther keeper Greg Sudor. The rebound went to Nathan Majumder, who missed high to keep the game scoreless.
The Jumbos threatened again in the 19th minute when Majumder’s header off a Rui Pinheiro cross went left.
Middlebury had a good look in the 30th minute when Noah Goss-Woliner received a pass in the box and was quickly surrounded before his shot was deflected, resulting in the Panther corner kick.
In the second half, Maxime Hoppenot of Tufts broke in alone on the left side, but his hard shot was deflected by Sydor, resulting in a corner kick.
Adam Glaser had a chance to put Middlebury on the board in the 80th minute, breaking in one-on-one. Moving to the middle, his hard shot went right at Tufts keeper Scott Greenwood, who made one of his three saves on the day.
In the first overtime, Tufts had a great opportunity denied by a foot save from Sydor on close-range shot from Connor Brown. Sydor made a diving save in the 102nd minute to deny another chance by Hoppenot.
The second overtime saw the best chance to score come from the home team. A lengthy throw-in by Tim Ogle into the box led to a scramble, before the Jumbos were able to clear the ball away.
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