Fall and Winter Sports Recaps

Men's Cross Country

With a combination of a strong veteran returning squad and a breakout freshman class, the men's cross country team made itself a force to be reckoned with this fall. The team took third at the NESCAC Championship meet, finishing just two points outside of second place. The Jumbos were led by graduating senior Jesse Faller, who took fourth, as well as rising sophomores Matt Rand and Kyle Marks, who both finished in the top 20.

    At the Div. III New England Championships, Faller earned another fourth place finish and was accompanied in the top 35 by Marks and rising seniors Jeff Ragazzini and Christopher Brunnquell, all of whom attained All-Region status. Up until the last mile of the race, the team was in position to capture third and a bid to NCAAs, but between injuries on the squad and an unexpectedly tough finish, the team took a disappointing eighth place.

    While the Jumbos missed out on the chance to travel to nationals as a team, Faller represented the brown and blue and earned his third Cross Country All-American title, finishing eighth overall — the highest finish by a Tufts athlete since 1997.

    Losing its frontrunner in Faller and the outstanding leadership of graduating senior captain Nick Welch, who was injured for much of the 2009 season, the squad will have a challenge to face next fall but also a strong field of runners looking to fill the gaps.

Women's Cross Country

When the women's cross country team lost rising senior Stephanie McNamara to injury before the season started, it knew it would need her classmate Amy Wilfert to step up. Wilfert was more than ready to do just that, making it back to the national championship race for the second straight season. This year, however, Wilfert reached new heights, returning to Tufts with a 31st-place finish that made her an All-American.

    Wilfert's run may have been the highlight, but Tufts had a strong season all-around. She led the way with the team's top finish at the Trinity Invitational, where Tufts finished in second place as a team. She was also Tufts' top runner in the last team performance in the NCAA Regionals with her seventh-place finish. A host of underclassmen finished close behind her. Rising juniors Anya Price and Bryn Kass exhibited great pack-running techniques all season and were the second and third runners for Tufts in that race. Rising junior Sadie Lansdale and rising sophomore Grace Hafner emerged at the end of the season for coach Kristen Morwick's squad as reliable runners in the latter scoring spots.

    Rising junior Kelsey Picciuto and rising senior Jennifer Yih also were consistently among Tufts' top five. Most of Tufts' best runners will be back next year, giving the Jumbos a great chance to improve during their 2010 season.

Field Hockey

Although it didn't end exactly the way the team wanted, the 2009 field hockey season was an impressive follow-up to the  squad's groundbreaking 2008 campaign. Despite falling 1-0 to the eventual national champion Salisbury University in the NCAA semifinals under tough conditions, the Jumbos have a lot to be proud of this year.

    After all, the team did bring home some serious hardware, including the NESCAC Coach of the Year award, the NESCAC Player of the Year award, three National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-American honors, the New England West Region Player of the Year award, five All-Region selections, two Senior-All Star picks and the program's first NESCAC Championship title.

    For the first 10 games, the Jumbos were undefeated. Then Tufts on Oct. 17 came face-to-face with the only other undefeated team in the conference: Trinity. The Jumbos fell 2-1 in overtime and had to regroup after their first regular season loss in 30 games. Leaving the match behind, the team went on to shut out its next five opponents and head into the postseason at a 13-1 clip.

    Entering the NESCAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed didn't slow down the squad, which continued to win big. Tufts easily handled Wesleyan and Williams 2-0 and 3-0, respectively, to give itself a chance for revenge against Trinity. In their second shot at the Bantams, the Jumbos got the win 3-2 on the road. The team members could hold their heads high knowing they sat atop the deepest conference in Div. III.

    Tufts will say goodbye to an extremely strong senior class in Amanda Russo, Margi Scholtes, Emma Kozumbo and 2008 All-Tournament selection and second-leading scorer Michelle Kelly. This season, the Class of 2010 combined for 31 goals and 78 points. Russo and Kelly controlled the wings on offense, while Scholtes dominated in the midfield. Kozumbo was the rock on the left side of the defense, which kept Tufts' opponents to just 12 goals all season.

Football

Marred by injuries and a serious lack of offensive production, the football team nonetheless came strikingly close to emerging from its 2009 campaign with a winning record. Ultimately, however, the Jumbos came up just short across the board, finishing with a 2-6 mark and ending the season with three of their five starting offensive linemen on the injured list.

    The highlight of the year came on Oct. 10, when rising junior kicker Adam Auerbach struck the game-winning field goal in overtime against Bowdoin, giving Tufts a 25-22 victory. But from there, the Jumbos reeled off five straight losses — including two against the NESCAC's top two finishers — by a combined 17 points.

    Rising senior wide receiver Pat Bailey filled in admirably after the graduation of some of the squad's best offensive producers from 2008 and was named to the All-NESCAC Second Team after finishing second in the conference in all-purpose yards, with 152.4 per game. But for all that Bailey did on the ground, Tufts lacked production through the air, as the Jumbos had the worst passing attack in the NESCAC without rising fifth-year senior quad-captain Anthony Fucillo, who went down with a season-ending ankle injury in a scrimmage.