It was the worst of halves, then the best of halves. It was a game marked by a faltering, fragmented team, then it was a game marked by a fiery, intense, and overpowering unit. It was a 1-0 deficit to the 13th-ranked team in the country, and then it was a vindicating, 3-1 comeback win over the only NESCAC team that Tufts did not beat last year.
But then, that seems to be the norm for the women's soccer team. Game after game, year after year, Tufts has been a team that consistently starts off slowly and struggles through the opening minutes before exploding out of the gates after halftime to dominate the competition. Last season, seven of the 18 goals the Jumbos gave up came in the first 20 minutes of play, while most of Tufts' offensive output came in the second period.
"Last year, we seemed like a second-half team," coach Martha Whiting said. "I hope it's not something that's carrying over, but it did [against Middlebury]."
In Saturday's game, the Panthers did not get on the board until the 31st minute, but they controlled play for almost the entire first half. The Jumbos, on the other hand, were struggling just to keep their players on the field.
By the middle of the first half, the Jumbos were playing without senior co-captain Katie Ruddy, who sat out with an injury suffered against Wesleyan, active leading scorer Lynn Cooper, senior Becky Mann, junior Alle Sharlip - who went on to score twice in the second half - and sophomores Jess Trombly (last year's NESCAC Rookie of the Year) and Becca Doigan. Doigan went down with an Achilles' injury minutes after entering the game, while Mann temporarily lost feeling in her feet, and Sharlip and Cooper were fatigued and getting their usual rest time.
Three freshmen helped fill in the open positions, and while they performed well, it was obvious that the players on the field were not accustomed to working together as a unit.
"In the first half, we played too much as individuals, and not enough as a team," Whiting said. "We weren't anticipating what our teammates were going to do. We have 22 great individual players on this team, but we won't amount to much if we don't play together."
Middlebury took advantage of Tufts' vulnerability and dominated play throughout most of the period. The Panthers got on the board with 13:03 remaining in the opening frame, as junior Leah Cumsky-Whitlock headed in a corner kick from senior Wendy Miner. As the clock wound down, the Jumbos struggled to keep the deficit at one. The Panthers came close to scoring again in the 36th minute, but an inadvertent hand ball in the box by the Middlebury forward stopped a clear run at the Tufts goal, and the scored remained 1-0 at halftime.
But as soon as the whistle blew to start the second half, it was obvious that the Jumbos now meant business. "At halftime we talked about what we weren't doing right," Sharlip said. "We lacked intensity and didn't get after the ball."
With Cooper, Trombly, Sharlip, and Mann back in the lineup, the Jumbos' play improved considerably, and the team's intensity level skyrocketed. Tufts immediately began a relentless assault on the Middlebury defense that produced three solid scoring chances in the opening five minutes. Ten minutes into the period, the Jumbos netted their first goal of the game.
On the score, Cooper sent a feed to Mann, who fired a shot at the net. Middlebury keeper Ali Connolly made the stop, but instantly what appeared to be the entire Tufts team converged around the ball, swarming the goal and fighting hard for the rebound. Seconds later, Sharlip knocked it through the frame to tie the game at one.
The offensive did not stop there. Less than two minute later, Cooper battled the ball away from a Panther defender and shot the ball over to freshman Sarah Gelb. Gelb pushed the ball up the left sideline, wove her way through the defense, and launched a shot. It, too, was deflected, but the rebound went straight to Cooper, who tapped it in to give Tufts the lead with 34:27 to go.
"Player for player, we're a better team than Middlebury, but we weren't showing it [in the first half]," Whiting said. "We didn't have the mental aspects - intensity, heart, passion. In the second half, it was like something turned on a switch, and we started to play really well."
Tufts coasted through the next 15 minutes and add an insurance goal by Sharlip at 63:45. Middlebury put up a stronger fight towards the end of the game, shifting play back and forth, but the Jumbo defense held on for the 3-1 victory.
Statistically, the differences between the two halves were staggering. Tufts out-shot Middlebury 24-8 on the day, spurred by a 17-3 edge in the second period. All five of Tufts' corner kicks came in the second half as well.
"Every team I've been on has been a second-half team. I don't know, maybe it's me," Cooper joked.
The Jumbos will continue to work on raising their first-half intensity as they prepare for Wednesday's NESCAC contest against Connecticut College. Tufts beat the Camels 1-0 last season, with Cooper scoring the game's only goal in the 21st minute.
@s:Jumbos step up intensity in second half
