Tufts was in a familiar spot when the final whistle blew in North Carolina. (Jacob Kupferman/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
Midway through October, head coach Josh Shapiro could sense the “outrageous expectations” starting to impact the Tufts men’s soccer program.
The Jumbos were amid an uncharacteristic 1-2-2 stretch, a run that you wouldn’t expect of a program that had won national titles in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
But on Saturday night in Greensboro, N.C., that seemed like a distant memory for Tufts (20-2-2) after defeating NESCAC rival Amherst (19-2-2), 2-0, to make it four NCAA championships in the last six years. And Shapiro has a pretty good idea of what led to the Jumbos’ success after some mid-season adversity.
