The field hockey team closed its NESCAC season Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 loss to Williams College, which had not defeated Tufts in the last four years. The win solidified a third place finish for the Ephs (6-3 NESCAC, 10-4 overall), six spots ahead of the ninth place Jumbos. The Jumbos finished their season 1-8 in league play, and 3-10 overall.
"All of the games that we have lost - when we've played up to our full potential - are ones that we know we could have won," said senior tri-captain Barbara Szajda. "Williams we actually felt was a better team."
The first half got off to a slow start, with the two teams struggling to control possession. But the Ephs finally gained an edge and began to control play, and with 17:15 minutes on the clock, Eph sophomore Tori Scott found the back of the net off of a pass from junior Moonjoo Han.
The Ephs demonstrated superior stick skills, but it was their passing game that put the Jumbos at a real disadvantage. "They had an awesome passing game, and it threw us," senior Liesl Bradford said.
Williams started off the second half aggressively, picking up the pace, with Han scoring a goal of her own at 30:11, with an assist from junior Kate Leonard. Three minutes later, the hosts charged for another goal, and with the help of junior Leanne McManama, junior Stephanie Noering put one away for the final tally of the day, deciding the score at 3-0.
"I thought they were by far the best team that we played against this season," Bradford said.
But after Noering's goal, the Jumbo defense, led by Bradford and juniors Ursula Stahl and Karen Moar, held strong the remainder of the game. "We really didn't give up," Szajda said. "We played hard the whole game, and it's something I'm really proud of us for."
Despite their strong play, though, the Jumbos proved unable to compete with a clearly superior Williams team. "Things that usually work against other teams did not work against them," Szajda said. "We couldn't adjust to their level of play."
Overall, the Jumbos season has been a frustrating one, facing a losing season for the first time since 1994, and losing many of its games without scoring. The Jumbos put 12 goals in net this season, compared to 27 in 2000, and 29 in 1999.
"We were playing very competitively in close games, and were dominating a lot of the time," Bradford said. "Our lasting problem was that we just couldn't score."
One possible explanation for the Jumbos' lack of scoring in the 2001 campaign is the corner regulation that was instated at the beginning of the season. All corner balls must be stopped dead right outside the circle before being brought inside the circle, as opposed to years past when the ball could be stopped anywhere. Therefore, a player can only score from inside the circle.
The regulation has made scoring off penalty corners increasingly difficult for the team - an aspect of its play that has needed improvement for the past few years.
"When you have an 8-5 player-up advantage like that, you should be able to score," Szajda said. "We needed to be scoring on our corners, and we weren't. That is something the team will definitely have to focus on next year."
Despite scoring frustrations, the Jumbos have experienced an overall improvement in skill and cooperation. Over the course of the season, the Jumbos have seen particular improvement in their defense. Games in early September exhibited the defense's struggle with new positions as well as the graduation of three lauded defensive players the previous year. However, in recent games, Tufts defense has been tighter, allowing a total of 13 goals in eight games during the month of October in comparison to the 12 it let up in September's five matches.
"Teams are not scoring on breakaways as often, "Szajda said. "The goals that were scored [by Williams] were good, solid goals."
Bradford echoed her teammate's sentiments. "If you look at the beginning of our season, its completely different from the end of it," Bradford said. "At the beginning weren't playing the way that we could play. But instead of riding out a bad start to our season, we changed our setup at the beginning of October, and we started playing really well. We started on one level, and rose to another. It revived the team."
Troubles with scoring continued to plague the team until the end of the season. But as disappointing as a losing season with minimal scoring is, the women are satisfied with the overall results of the season.
"I'm not disappointed with our season," Szajda said. "Our team has grown a lot, both in terms of skills and teamwork. It was a fun season, and I think that we have a lot to be happy about, regardless of its outcome."
"If we had come together like we did a few weeks ago at the beginning of the season, we may have had a different outcome," Bradford said. "We started rising to occasion a little too late."
The Jumbos may not be officially over as they could face Gordon College on Tuesday in a rescheduled game due to inclement weather early in the season. Gordon enters tournament play next week and consequently may scratch the game from its schedule entirely.
