Beating the Williams Ephs is something in which every Jumbo takes pride. Doing it on Williams' home field, and in a resounding manner, is even better.
The Tufts field hockey team did just that this past weekend, beating the Ephs for the first time in Williamstown since 1989. With this win and their victory over Clark University on Thursday, the Jumbos guaranteed themselves a winning season, as they boosted their record to 8-5.
On a cold, rainy day in western Massachusetts, Tufts posted a decisive and important 4-1 victory over Williams. With the win, Tufts dropped Williams three spots in the national polls, down to number 17. In addition, the loss may seriously affect Williams' receiving a bid for the NCAA Tournament.
In a game that was dominated offensively by the Ephs, the Jumbos showed that they could capitalize when they needed to. Almost every time Tufts got control of the ball up in its offensive circle, the team scored.
Williams plays a completely offensive-minded game, pushing all but one of its field players up into its opponents' defensive zone, forcing the forward line to drop back and mark up all the extra players. This crowded the zone and made transition very difficult for Tufts.
"It was stressful as an attack player, because their halfbacks kept on going in the circle and cluttering it," sophomore Christina Orf said. "There wasn't a lot of transition because we had to be back on defense, then immediately be up on attack to receive the ball coming out."
Orf shrugged off the confusion, though, as she played one of her best games of the year, scoring both the first and fourth goals for the Jumbos. Her first goal came just four minutes after the opening whistle. Fellow sophomore Lindsay Lionetti took a shot from the top of the circle, which Orf deflected past the keeper into the left corner of the cage.
"Christina had a great game," junior Dena Sloan said. "She's really improved noticeably in the past few games - she's done a great job."
Just five minutes later, Tufts was able to clear the zone and get back on attack. Junior Mia Baron's shot was saved by the Williams keeper, and after a short scuffle in front of the goal, Tufts sophomore Barbara Szajda pushed the ball passed the goalie, making it 2-0.
Williams called a time out in an effort to stop Tufts' momentum and sent everyone down on attack, leaving just its keeper and sweeper behind the 50-yard line. With just over 12 minutes left in the half, the Ephs scored their first and only goal of the game.
Tufts responded with a time out of its own, and within 30 seconds, freshman Dana Chivvis put goal number three on the scoreboard, making the halftime score 3-1.
The second half played very similarly to the first. The majority of play was down in Tufts' defensive zone, but Williams failed to get many shots on goal.
Sloan, Tufts' keeper, had a very good game in the cage for the Jumbos. She made 11 saves, but perhaps more importantly, she never faltered under the constant barrage of the Ephs' attack.
"She kept cool the entire time, which is hard to do when the ball is in your defensive circle the whole time," Orf said, praising the composure of her goalie. "She made tons of saves and was somehow able to see through the constant crowds of people in front of her."
"I didn't think it was our best defensive effort, but they were overwhelmed with the number of kids down there," coach Carol Rappoli said. "The forwards did a good job playing defense. The team overall also did a good job overcoming the officiating."
While it is not unusual for one or both sides in a competition to complain about the officiating, the Tufts players and coaches made it clear after the game that they felt that one of the referees was giving Williams an advantage. Rappoli said that the referee was making calls on a rule that has not been in existence for a few years, and one player claimed to have overheard the referee complaining after each call made by her partner in favor of Tufts.
The Jumbos came into the game with a very positive attitude, riding both a winning streak and the hopes of knocking off a rival.
"The win streak definitely has had an effect. We are playing so much better, with so much team unity," Orf said. "We also had the incentive to possibly knock Williams out of NCAAs and increase their losing streak. We knew they were vulnerable, and we wanted to take advantage of it."
That win streak started a week-and-a-half prior, with the Jumbos' victory over NESCAC opponent Wesleyan. After the Cardinals, Tufts knocked off Trinity, Clark, and finally Williams.
The 3-2 victory over Clark, which took place just two days before the Williams win, was Tufts' second straight overtime game. Unlike the Trinity game, which had to be determined by penalty strokes, Tufts disposed of the Cougars just two minutes into the first overtime.
Chivvis scored the overtime goal, as she received a pass from sophomore Lindsay Lionetti 116 seconds into the first OT.
Senior Rebecca Litt scored both of the Jumbos' regulation goals, as she led the charge to overcome a 2-1 halftime deficit.
Looking for their fifth straight win, the Jumbos are preparing for their Homecoming showdown against Amherst this Saturday. The team will accept nothing but a win.
"We are really ready for Homecoming," Orf said. "We haven't lost at home, with the exception of the Bowdoin game, in a long time... it certainly won't be at Homecoming. The Lord Jeffs are going to go home with a loss."
