Weymouth’s Greenwood perfect in goal for unbeaten Tufts

The sophomore keeper from Weymouth, however, is quick to deflect the credit to his teammates. He needed to make only five saves in those four games for the Jumbos (5-0), a strong indication of the solid defense out in front the goal.

But Tufts coach Josh Shapiro does credit Greenwood for being the vocal leader of that defensive unit.

“Scott is very engaged and very high energy,” said Shapiro. “He does a really good job of connecting with the group of defenders in front of him. He’s not an island in the goal. He is constantly organizing our defenders, which is very important to the way we play.”

Greenwood registered one save in 70 minutes of play in an 8-0 season-opening victory over the University of Massachusetts Boston, then quarterbacked a defense that allowed only three shots (none on net) in a 4-0 NESCAC win over Bates.

He faced his biggest test in a 1-0 win at Colby, making three saves to preserve the win. Wednesday, he had one in a defensive battle against Wesleyan. And he received a game-saving stop from teammate Sam Williams, who cleared the ball from the goal line after a break-in bid by Cardinal freshman Adam Cowie-Haskell of Marshfield early in the second half squeaked through the legs of Greenwood.

“Coach Shapiro really preaches team defense, and having a good mentality defensively as a group is very important to our approach,” said Greenwood, a 2013 graduate of Weymouth High. “The defense has been doing most of the work for me at this point. I’m just out there to clean up the scraps.”

At Weymouth, Greenwood started in net as a sophomore and junior, leading the Wildcats to the Division 1 South final in 2010, in which New Bedford prevailed on penalty kicks after a scoreless regulation.

But he forfeited his senior season at Weymouth when he opted to play for the US Soccer Development Academy. That fall, US soccer introduced a rule banning high school students who play for instructional academy teams from playing for their school team. Greenwood appealed the decision but lost.

“Forfeiting your high school season is a hard choice for a lot of kids,” said Shapiro. “For Scott, the decision definitely helped with his development and how prepared he was coming in to Tufts.”

As a freshman, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound Greenwood beat out two seniors for the starting job as goalkeeper and registered seven shutouts in 13 starts. He allowed eight goals, the fewest by a Tufts keeper since 1994. And like this year, he pitched shutouts in his first three games.

After posting a 0.61 goals-against average as a freshman, that number now stands at a minuscule 0.50 for his career.

“With goalies, if you are a little undersized, then people want to write you off, and that was to our benefit,” said Shapiro.

“Scott’s not your prototype 6-foot-2 goalie, but he’s very agile, very confident and has great feet. For me, there was no risk in recruiting him at all. I knew we’d be getting a great goalie who could impress right away. He came in ready last year and ran with his opportunity.”

Last season ended on an all too familiar note for Greenwood; Bowdoin bounced the Jumbos from the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament in a game decided by penalty kicks.

With 10 shutouts in 16 starts, Shapiro knows that he has a keeper capable of sparking a run into the postseason.

“He’s quick as a cat, and when we start getting quality chances you feel really good that Scott will be able to rescue two or three mistakes because he’s that good at stopping shots,” said Shapiro.

“It’s a huge advantage to play with a keeper who everyone has confidence in. It allows you to defend higher up the field and put teams under more pressure. You have the confidence to take some risks because you know you have this guy in the back who can bail you out.”

Greenwood likes to model his style of play after Tim Howard , the keeper for the US national team.

“He’s really inspired me as far as being organized,” said Greenwood. “He’s very good at protecting his net before he has to do the actual protecting. I try to study his game and shape my game toward his.”

Scituate’s Jeff Durkin , a junior on the golf team at Trinity College, was the Bantams’ low scorer on each day of the Bill Detrick Invitational, shooting a 76 on the first day and firing a 71 in the final round. He finished one shot behind the winner on the leaderboard. A graduate of Thayer Academy, Durkin was an all-NESCAC first team selection last year and fired a career- and team-low round of 68 in the Trinity Invitational. . .

Brooke Hattinger of Weymouth scored both goals for the Springfield College women’s soccer team in a 2-1, double overtime over Roger Williams in the championship game of the Springfield College Invitational. The junior midfielder scored the winner on a free kick at the 7:31 mark of the second overtime. Junior forward Krissy Cicalis of Bridgewater netted her first goal of the season for the Pride in a 3-0 win over UMass-Dartmouth last week. . .

Freshman Darby Andersson is off to a fast start for the Framingham State women’s soccer team. The Plymouth South grad scored her first collegiate goal in an 11-1 win over Wheelock College, then added another tally and an assist in the game.

John R. Johnson can be reached at jjohnson49@comcast.net.