Liza Kaufman, Photography Editor

The Yale men’s soccer team (0–4–2, 0–0–0 Ivy) traveled to Amherst, Mass. over the weekend to face off against the UMass Minutemen (4–2–3, 0–0–0 MAC). 

Despite the Elis taking an early lead, the game ended in a draw.

“We came into the away match against UMass with the mindset of competing for 90 minutes against an Elite 8 team and trusting each other to execute our individual roles,” defender Andrew Myerson ’27 wrote to the News. 

That’s exactly what the team did, putting up a fight until the bitter end.

Following two losses in California, the Bulldogs came back to the East Coast ready to bite. Hungry for a victory, the team entered the matchup against UMass refreshed and determined. The Minutemen also sought a victory, after a recent 0-2 loss to the Princeton Tigers (4–1–0, 0–0–0 Ivy). 

The Elis dominated in the first half of the game. 

Midfielder Angelo Zhu ’29, who has already proven himself to be a consistent playmaker at the collegiate level, continued to show off his skills. After being taken down in the box, he scored his first collegiate goal off a penalty kick in the 17th minute, earning the Bulldogs an early lead. 

Yale goalkeeper Conrad Lee ’26 excelled once again, making a career-high nine saves and staving off the Minutemen for the entirety of the first half. So far this season, Lee has played a major role in keeping opponents off the scoreboard. In six games this year, the Elis have been scored on 11 times, less than two goals a game on average. 

Against UMass, Lee’s diving save of a penalty shot in the 31st minute kept the Minuteman scoreless in the first half.

With the Elis taking an early 1–0 lead, UMass charged into the second half determined to level the score on their home turf. Four minutes in, a header from Minutemen forward John Paul Mbuthia tied things up. The home team kept up the pressure, scoring a second goal on a free kick in the 60th minute. 

However, the Bulldogs refused to back down without a fight. With the clock winding down, defender Sven Meacham ’28 scored to tie up the game in the 84th minute. The goal, which is his team-leading second of the season, secured the tie for the Bulldogs. 

Despite a final score that left the Bulldogs without a tally in the win column, Myerson is proud of his teammates’ performance and remains hopeful for the upcoming games

“My fellow defenders Owen Bull ’28 and Diego Zaffanella ’26 and goalkeeper Conrad Lee ’26 did a phenomenal job of weathering the storm from start to finish,” Myerson wrote to the News. “A 2-2 draw on the road shows resilience, but also leaves us hungry to sharpen up and turn these tight games into wins. A draw is never the ultimate goal, but we’ll take the lessons from this and keep pushing for wins moving forward.” 

The Bulldogs will return home to play the University of New Hampshire Wildcats (1–4–3, 0–0–0 AEC) on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. at Reese Stadium and then travel to Ithaca, New York to open Ivy League play at Cornell (4–1–0, 0–0–0 Ivy) on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 4pm.