Saturday afternoon, the field hockey team fell short of the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) final match when it was edged out by fourth seed Wesleyan University. The top-seeded Jumbos came up 0a goal short in the 1-0 loss, the team's eighth marginal loss of the season.
Tufts dominated for the majority of the game, with several close scoring opportunities from juniors Lindsay Lionetti and Christina Orf and sophomore Dana Chivvis. While the squad applied steady pressure throughout the first half and for the first portion of the second stanza, it could not find the net.
"It was a frustrating game because we created so many breaks that we could not finish," junior Liesl Bradford said.
The main obstacle the team had faced this season was its inability to capitalize on important scoring opportunities. Although the team suffered eight losses, the games were never decided by more than a goal.
"It had nothing to do with our talent or ability," all-NESCAC Lionetti said. "I think that sometimes we would just get impatient or a bit overanxious in finding the goal rather than taking a step back and making better decisions."
After 50 minutes of regulation play, the scoreboard remained unlit, while Wesleyan played somewhat on its heels, in contrast to the team's earlier match-ups. However, with fifteen minutes left on the clock, the Cardinals assumed control of the game and pressured a tired Tufts defense. With 7:48 left in the second half, Wesleyan sophomore Laura Pfeiffenberger got one past Tufts senior goalie Dena Slaon. Sonya Behnke assisted on the game-winning goal.
Tufts fought back in the final minutes of the game, and brought the action into Wes's defensive end, but again, did not finish a shot on goal. When the final whistle blew, the score leaned at 1-0 in Wesleyan's favor. The Cardinals advanced to the final round Sunday afternoon against Clark University on Huskins field.
The Cardinals had eleven penalty corners on the afternoon, ten of which fell in the second frame alone. "When a team has that many corners in a row, that's when I start to worry," junior Christina Orf said. "They had several towards the end, and their chances just kept getting better and better."
In response to the Jumbos' six penalty-corners early in the second half, Cardinal senior tri-captain and goalminder Taryn Hutchins-Cabibi made two of her total four saves. Sloan fared well in her final day on Huskins field. Sloan had 122 saves on the season, with a .90 GAA.
"Dena's done so well for us this year," defender Bradford said. "It will be a huge adjustment next year without her, especially when some of us have played with her behind us for three years." In addition to the loss of Sloan next season, the team will also graduate starters Mia Baron, Colette Gaudet, and Amy Polverini.
The weekend's loss was the final rendez-vous of the Jumbos/Cardinals' three of the season. October 10, Tufts hosted Wesleyan in a 2-1 loss and faced the Cardinals again two weeks later in the first round of the NESCAC tournament. In another nail-biter, the Jumbos came back from a 1-0 deficit to win the game in overtime.
"It was difficult to play against a team who we were so well-matched with," Bradford said. "Yesterday, we were obviously the better team, and that's why it's so hard to suffer the loss."
Although the team ended its season a day short of its plans, the team is not thoroughly disappointed. "This season is far from a disappointment for us," Lionetti said. "We've come such a long way this season and have improved in so many ways, especially some of our underclassmen. Even though we're going to be losing some really important players, we can only look forward to next season."
