This Saturday, the women's soccer team will take on William Smith College in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament. Tufts advanced to the quarterfinals after beating Wheaton 3-1 in the New England Regional Finals last Sunday. The game will be held at 1 p.m. at home on Kraft Field, where the Jumbos are 9-0 so far this year.
"I think it's going to be huge advantage playing at home," sophomore defensive back Brenna O'Rourke said. "It really helped us this weekend when we didn't have to play Middlebury at home. Hopefully, we'll have a lot of fans on our side."
At 16-3-1, Tufts is having the most successful campaign in its 22-year history. The team surpassed its previous season record of 12 wins with a victory over Bates in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament. This is the second time the Jumbos have advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals. In 1998, the team defeated Wellesley in penalty kicks to win the New England Championship before falling 1-0 to Ithaca.
Tufts is led by seniors Sara Yeatman, Carmen Mikacenic, and Randee McArdle, the team's tri-captains. Yeatman tops the list in goals scored, with 11, while junior Lynn Cooper leads in overall scoring, with 26 points on ten goals and six assists.
Mikacenic has played a crucial role on defense, anchoring a squad that has given up just 16 goals in 20 games. McArdle has been spectacular in goal, recording seven shutouts while saving 85.6 of opponents' shots. Freshman Jess Trombly has also made an impact, racking up five goals and seven assists on her way to winning the NESCAC Rookie of the Year award.
The Jumbos have never played William Smith before, and therefore do not know much about how the team plays. They are confident in their ability to match up against any opponent, however, and will count on their own strengths to carry them this weekend.
"From what we've heard, they're definitely beatable," sophomore Alle Sharlip said. "At this point in the season, its just a matter of working hard and being intense. Everyone on our team has the skills, we just need to use them."
"We don't really know exactly what kind of team they are," Mikacenic added. "We're not really worrying about them right now. We've been focusing on what we need to improve on. Any team we face at this point is going to be very good. We just need to go out with intensity and play the best we can."
William Smith has posted a 14-4-1 record this year, with their only losses coming against the College of New Jersey, currently ranked number one in the country, Gettysburg, St. Lawrence, and Ithaca. The Herons were ranked 19th in the last NSCAA poll, one spot ahead of Tufts. They advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Oneonta State, which entered the ranked fourth in the country with only one loss, 2-1 in the finals of the Northeast regional.
William Smith has traditionally been a very strong team, and tied an NCAA record this year in making its 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The Herons have won the Northeast division four times, most recently in 1997, and were the national champions in 1988.
This year's Herons are led by sophomore forward Kristen Perrigo, who has netted a team-high 23 points on nine goals and five assists, despite playing in only 15 games. Freshman midfielder Stephanie Leveille and sophomore forward/midfielder Alyson Stachura have each added seven goals, and have 19 and 16 points, respectively.
William Smith also boasts an extremely tough defense, which has allowed just 13 goals in 19 matches this season, for a stingy .65 GAA. The defense has given up more than one goal just four times this year, and has shut out opponents in ten games.
Senior Kathleen Thelian earned the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) Defender of the Year award last fall, and is in the running for the honor again this year. The Herons' starting goalkeeper, junior Leah Cornwall, has stopped 89.1 percent of opponents' shots on goal en route to earning eight of her team's shutouts.
The winner of this weekend's game will move on to the NCAA Final Four, which will take place Nov. 18-19. Should the Jumbos win, there is a chance that the games will be held at Tufts, but the NCAA will make the final decision based on monetary factors.
Tickets for this weekend's game will be $4 for adults, $2 for students with an ID, and $1 for children 12 and under, and will be available at the gate.
