At the beginning of the season, the Tufts Jumbos were not listed among the best 25 women's soccer teams in Division III. But as of yesterday, their final position was officially certified ? number two in the country ? after their Cinderella run through the NCAA Tournament ended with a loss in the finals.
"Division III women's soccer started out with about 370 teams at the beginning of the year, and its down to two and we're one of them," coach Martha Whiting said. "The fact that no one expected us to be there makes it even better."
Senior tri-captain Randee McArdle echoed her coach's sentiments. "It's pretty cool," she said. "One of our goals was to make it to NCAAs again. At the beginning of the season, you never set goals like being in the finals. But we set high goals for ourselves all season."
After dropping an early season match-up to eventual NESCAC champion Middlebury, the Jumbos went 10-1 in their last 11 regular season games to head into the postseason with a full head of steam. Over that stretch, the team posted five shutouts and also disposed of Williams in the regular season finale on Homecoming. The win marked the first time a Tufts team had beaten the Ephs in ten years, and also nailed down the third seed for the Jumbos in the first-ever NESCAC Tournament.
The Brown and Blue made it look easy in the opening rounds of NESCACs, leaving Bates and a powerful Bowdoin squad in its wake. Against Bowdoin, Tufts avenged an early season loss by scoring three unanswered goals after the Polar Bears struck first midway through the first half. That set up a showdown with Middlebury, who had already dealt the visiting Jumbos a blow on Sept. 16, when the Panthers escaped with a 1-0 victory. Once again, though, luck was not on Tufts' side, as they fell to Middlebury on a windy and snowy field in Vermont, 2-0.
"We lost to Middlebury in the finals, but sort of knowing that we weren't a worse team than them," Whiting said.
Whiting's Jumbos then entered the NCAA Division III Tournament by virtue of an at-large bid, and found themselves ranked 21st in the nation. Even so, the odds were certainly stacked against them to advance beyond the New England Regional final, with Middlebury likely to be blocking their path.
"We've always had confidence in ourselves," Whiting said. "And if we just made the NCAA Tournament, we could make stuff happen."
With this in mind, the Jumbos began their quest for an NCAA Title in the same place where it ended ? at home on Kraft field ? where they hosted the University of New England Nor'easters just over two weeks ago. Junior Lynn Cooper led the way with two goals and an assist, as her team trounced the visitors 5-0.
Next came a rematch with Bowdoin, hungry to enact some revenge of its own after Tufts handed the Polar Bears their walking papers in the NESCAC semifinals just a week earlier. Tufts reigned supreme again, courtesy of sophomore midfielder Liz Tooley's conversion of a penalty kick in the last round of a shootout. Bowdoin dominated the first half of play, but the Jumbos refused to budge, and they hung tough through regulation. Two scoreless overtime periods followed by the trading of goals on penalty shots set the stage for Tooley's game-winner in the second round.
Wheaton stood in for Middlebury in the quarterfinals, after toppling the Panthers in a double-overtime thriller. The Jumbos came through again, despite being matched up with the 13th ranked team in the country. Senior tri-captain Sara Yeatman netted what proved to be the game-winner on a pass from Cooper in the first half to give Tufts the NCAA New England Regional Championship.
The squad then came back home to Medford for the quarterfinals to face William Smith, which was making its 11th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Freshman forward Jess Trombly did the honors this time, blasting home an unassisted tally in the opening minutes of the second half to seal a 1-0 win.
Saturday's semifinal clash pitted the Brown and Blue against Wisconsin-Stevens Point, ranked 19th in the nation. A single goal proved to be the difference once more, as Cooper scored her seventh career NCAA Tournament goal in overtime.
The final chapter was written yesterday, beginning at 1 p.m., when Tufts took the field for the single biggest athletic event in the University's history. Once again, the Jumbos took the role of the underdog, playing against a College of New Jersey team that had been to the Final Four the last three years and owned the top ranking in the country. And once again, Tufts proved that it deserved to be right where it was.
"It was devastating to lose, but we knew if we got the chance, we'd run with it," Whiting said. And I feel like we did that."
College of New Jersey coach Joe Russo was full of praise for his opponents, who are one of just two teams to score on Lions goalkeeper Victoria Nusse all year. In fact, sophomore midfielder Adie Sherwood's goal in the second half yesterday was just the second that Nusse had given up in almost 2000 minutes of play.
"Tufts is an excellent team and is well coached," he said. "They scored a great goal, and it was a great game ? it was one of the better finals I've been involved in. They're one of the better teams we've played."
"When you're not really expected to go this far, it's a lot easier to do it," Whiting said. "I'm sure there's a lot of pressure on them, because they were top five nationally all year. Next year is a whole different ballgame. We're going to be ranked up top from the beginning. I really have to prepare the team to be able to deal with that."
Nonetheless, Whiting remains highly optimistic about her team's potential for next season. "We're going to be good enough to do it again next year, but it's all mental," she said. "Most of the game is mental, and you just have to have that mental toughness and not cave into the pressure."
And with returnees like Cooper, Trombly, Tooley, Sherwood, midfielders Becky Mann and Katie Kehrberger, forward Alle Sharlip, and defenders Katie Ruddy and Jessie Lovitz, pressure should prove to be no match for skill.
"It's definitely a great confidence booster," Cooper said. "Its makes us realize that things like this are possible even when you're not favored at all. With that in mind, we'll go into next season with a clear head."
