The Tufts men's soccer team remained unbeaten in its last six games and scored more goals than any Jumbo team since 2001 with a 6-1 victory over Suffolk in the pouring rain on Wednesday afternoon at Bello Field.
Freshman Gus Santos (Framingham, MA) led the way with two goals and an assist for the Jumbos. Classmate Kyle Volpe (Blackstone, MA) added a goal and an assist. The six strikes were the most by the Jumbo program since a 6-1 win over Salve Regina on October 2, 2001.
On Wednesday, it was Suffolk who had the better pressure early. Freshman Tyler Parmelee (Colchester, CT) put a challenging shot on goal from in tight near the left post that Jumbo starter Zach Cousens (Contocook, NH) saved. Parmelee later had another strong scoring chance that needed to be blocked away by a Tufts defender.
With the game tied through 30 minutes of play, Tufts changed the tone quickly. They would score four times in less than 10 minutes to take control. Santos scored first in the 32nd minute, followed by a pretty give-and-go with Volpe assisting and junior Rafael Ramos-Meyer (Washington, DC) scoring in the 38th minute. Forty-nine seconds later, Santos nailed his second of the match and sixth of the year on a break-away and Tufts led 3-0. Volpe, assisted by Santos, completed the four-goal run in the 41st minute and the Jumbos were up 4-0 at intermission.
Tufts would push the lead to 6-0 with goals by junior John Lewis (East Greenwich, RI) at the 63-minute mark and by sophomore Scott Blumenthal (Simsbury, CT) in the 68th minute. The Rams broke up the shutout with a laser-like goal in the 89th minute by freshman Andres Cohen (Caracas, Venezuela), beating Jumbo sophomore Wyatt Zeller (Sea Ranch Lakes, FL) who came on to start the second half.
The hosts finished with a 28-13 advantage in shots, attempting 14 in each half. Suffolk keeper James Potter (North Kingston, RI) finished with 10 saves. Cousens and Zeller each made a save for Tufts. Corners finished at 4-2 Tufts.
The Jumbo offensive attack included an inordinate nine offsides calls. Tufts improved to 8-2-2 overall and is in the midst of its longest unbeaten streak since the 1999 squad went 6-0-1 to start the season. The Rams lost for the third time in four games, dropping to 5-11-1.
Tufts travels to Hamilton for NESCAC action on Saturday at 2:30 pm. Suffolk finishes its regular season at Johnson & Wales for a GNAC game on Saturday at 3 pm.
(Story courtesy of Tufts University Sports Information)