Yesterday afternoon, senior co-captain Colette Gaudet scored the sole goal in strokes, as the field hockey team knocked Bates College out of the ECAC Tournament. With a 1-0 double overtime shootout in the quarterfinal round, the team advances to the ECAC semifinals this weekend, hosted at Huskins Field.
Tufts emerged victorious, yet the team's sixth overtime nail-biter of the year should have ended much earlier, according to coach Carol Rappoli. "We played better than them, but we couldn't finish all of our opportunities," she said.
After 60 minutes of scoreless play, Bates maintained control of the ball for most of the first overtime. With 11:38 left in the second overtime, Tufts' chances appeared to narrow. Gaudet went down with what looked like a game-ending ankle injury. She came out, but was back in five minutes later, an accomplishment that would be crucial to the Jumbos win.
"It was sort of an unlucky roll of the ankle, but it should be okay now," Gaudet said.
Tufts also had a plethora of corner opportunities in sudden death, yet could not finish any of them.
"I think they read our corners really well," junior Christina Orf said.
"Their defense was kind of sloppy in the circle, and it's a shame that we couldn't take advantage of those corners," midfielder Lindsay Lionetti continued.
After 100 minutes of stalemate play, the teams were forced into strokes. In the shootout, junior Barbara Szajda, Julia Price of Bates, Amy Polverini, Lionetti, and Johie Farrar of Bates all placed shots on goal, but missed. Bates' Annie Schauer and Bif Moorshead missed wide right and left, respectively. Then Gaudet, infamous for her hard-hitting rips that sometimes extend the length of the field, stepped up to play. She easily lifted her shot over the head of Bates keeper Peggy Ficks into the top left corner for the lone tally of the shootout. The goal was Gaudet's seventh of the season, making her the leading goal scorer for her squad.
Jumbo Laura Hacker had a chance to end the game with her last stroke, but missed wide left. Tufts keeper Dena Sloan stopped the final shot by Bobcat Nicole St. Jean, ending the game 1-0 in the Jumbos' favor.
"Their keeper made two fabulous saves on the first two shots in the shootout. It could easily have been two or three to nothing by the fourth shot," Rappoli said. "Dena made a lot of saves. They weren't the toughest chances, but she stopped all of them. Sometimes goalies miss the easy ones."
One month ago, the Jumbos fell to Bates in a 2-1 disappointment. The stage was set similarly to last year's playoffs, with Tufts hoping to avenge its early season loss to the Bobcats. Yesterday, though, the Jumbos were ranked first in the ECAC tournament, while Bates was ranked eighth, the exact reverse of last season's standings. Fortunately for the Jumbos, the result of the match was also the opposite of last fall.
"We knew they'd be fired up for this game. They'd want to get us back for last season's playoffs," Rappoli said.
Hacker concurred. "The game was as close as they come," she said. "We definitely outplayed them, but we expected a tough game from them since they beat us 2-1 at home this year."
The Jumbos were faced with the odds of scoring against one of the best college goalies in the country, Ficks. The senior captain was named an All-NESCAC selection earlier in the day, strutting her stuff yesterday in stopping several Tufts breakaways and finishing with 20 saves.
"We really all respect her as a goalie," Polverini said. "She's the best goalie we've ever played against."
The first half was all Jumbos, as they pressured the ball well and contained the Bobcats to their end of the field. "I don't think they controlled the middle field as well," Polverini said. "We had problems finishing the play, but for the most part we played well."
The second frame was peppered with Tufts' shots on goal and lots of transitional field action. With 22:30 left, a shot by freshman Brooke Christian outside of the circle was stopped. Then a shot by Polverini at 20:53 was stopped with a pad by Ficks. Bates' best chance came when Sloan fell on the ball, but it was poked past her and trickled across the goalmouth. With a minute left in regulation play, Ficks made three consecutive great saves, forcing the game into extra minutes.
Although the teams appeared neck and neck throughout the race, the Jumbos feel as though they were the clear favorite.
"We dominated the game, and because of that I feel that we deserved to win," Orf said. "Maybe it wasn't the best way for us to win the game, but we got the win and that's what counts."
The Jumbos will get a few days of rest before they head into the weekend's events. Saturday, the squad will host Wesleyan University in the semifinal round of the ECAC tournament. The Jumbos have quite a history with the Cardinals, having faced them twice already this season. Earlier in the season, the Brown and Blue dropped a game to Wesleyan, but avenged its lost in the NESCAC quarterfinal game, when it silenced the Cardinals with a 2-1 overtime success.
