The women's soccer team posted a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Trinity Bantams Saturday afternoon to improve to 8-4 (5-3 NESCAC) on the year. Trinity struck first, but the Jumbos took advantage of two corner kicks, one at the end of the first half and the other midway through the second, to even the score and then pull ahead.
"It's always a hard game against Trinity," senior co-captain Lynn Cooper said. "In the last few years we have had to come from behind. It was a tough game, but it felt good to nail it in there. We have a lot of momentum coming up now going into the last week."
Senior midfielder Sara Standish knocked in the winning goal, finishing off a picture-perfect serve from classmate Katie Kehrberger. The goal, which came in the 64th minute, was the second of the year for Standish, while Kehrberger was credited with her third assist.
"[Standish] did a great job to get to that ball," coach Martha Whiting said of the goal. "She's really picked up her level of intensity in the last week or so, and it showed today. She wanted that ball, and she got it and put it right where it needed to be."
All three of Kehrberger's assists have come off of corners, and the Jumbos have tallied four goals in the last four games off of them. Tufts earned the corner when sophomore Jess Trombly made a run up the right side and had a cross deflected out of bounds.
"In practice, we have been working on corner kicks a lot," Kehrberger said. "It is something that we need to capitalize on. We've been working really hard on running towards the ball and finishing."
Immediately after Tufts pulled ahead, Trinity launched a massive offensive assault, throwing an extra attacker forward and threatening the Tufts net. But while the Bantams controlled play for much of the final 25 minutes, the Jumbo defense held strong, fighting off strike after strike to secure the victory.
"I was on the edge of my seat for the last 25 minutes," Whiting said. "They stepped it up after the goal, and then they put another player forward. We just put another player on her, so she was marked up, but they definitely pressured. But I felt that after we scored and they kept firing away, we just weren't going to be denied, and that was just so amazing."
With the win, Tufts solidified its spot in the NESCAC postseason tournament, which will begin next Sunday at a location to be determined later this week.
"Another driving force today was understanding that, if we did win this game, then we're in the tournament," Whiting said. "Depending on what other people do, this could put us in a good position in terms of the first round, with the potential of hosting."
Taking advantage of a strong start, Trinity opened up the scoring in the 18th minute. Bantam freshman Leah Felis made a run with the ball up the left side, beating Tufts sweeper Cara Glassanos and then feeding the ball to freshman forward Nicole Mauger. Jumbo goalie Mara Schanfield charged in an attempt to make a play on the ball, but Mauger lifted a chip shot up and over the sliding keeper to give Trinity the early lead.
Immediately after the goal, Glassanos, who had limped through warm-ups, came out of the game, still bothered by a shin injury suffered Tuesday against Amherst. After not practicing Wednesday, Glassanos played against Simmons Thursday, but was rested after Tufts built up a sizable lead. The severity of the injury is not yet known, and the junior is questionable for next week's games. Sophomore defender Jess Lovitz shifted from her usual marking-back position to fill in for Glassanos. "It was a little nerve-wracking, but it was okay once we started playing a little bit," Lovitz said. "The defense as a whole played very well, so it made it a lot easier on me."
"It's tough to lose such a presence on the field," Whiting said. "But I thought that Lovitz stepped up and did a phenomenal job. She's someone who works so hard and does a great job every game, and doesn't always get a whole lot of credit for it. It's nice to know that when a player like that goes down, someone else can do a very nice job."
After Trinity's goal, Tufts picked up its level of play considerably, shifting the momentum and controlling the flow of the game. The Bantams turned aside shot after shot until Tufts finally broke onto the scoreboard with just under 1:30 to play in the half.
"We started out a little slow in the first half, but once we started to play, it was obvious who the better team was and who deserved to win," Whiting said. "But I have to give them credit - they fought so hard, and this game really could have gone either way."
The Jumbos earned their fifth corner of the first period after a flurry of shots ended with one deflecting out of bounds. Junior midfielder Alle Sharlip took the kick, and sent it into the penalty area. No one could get a body on the ball, and it bounced through to the other side, where freshman Becky Greenstein stood waiting. Greenstein quickly settled the ball and fired a shot past the Trinity keeper. A defender standing in the goal managed to get a foot on the shot, but could only deflect it up into the net, evening the score at one.
"It was a great shot, because the keeper was completely screened," Whiting said. "Becky's a scrappy, scrappy player, and you need that in a game like this. When you watch her going to the ball, you're not quite sure what's going to happen, but then she's very explosive and just explodes off the ball. She's also very good with the ball at her feet, and so she's deceptive and can beat people, and she's not afraid to shoot."
The goal was Greenstein's fourth of the year, and gives her seven points in the last two games. She is tied for second in scoring with Sharlip, each a point behind sophomore Jess Trombly, who has ten on four goals and two assists.
The Jumbos kept up the strong play well into the second half, and took the lead for good on Standish's goal.
"In the second half, we played with a lot of heart and intensity, and we started working together, Trombly said. "We really started clicking this game. We looked good - I think we're getting there. We're starting to put everything together and I think we should do pretty well in the playoffs."
The team does not play again until Thursday, when it will travel to Worchester to play WPI. The Jumbos have dominated WPI recently, winning 5-0 in each of their last two contests, but with have to deal with atypical conditions on Thursday. The game will begin at 7 p.m., the latest the team has started, and will be played on a turf field.
"WPI is always interesting because they play on turf, so it's a bit of an equalizer for them," Whiting said. "And we play there at night, too, so we have two things that are new to us that we're going to have to contend with, but we'll be fine."
Tufts will then finish up its regular season next Saturday at number-one Williams (10-0, 7-0 NESCAC) before the start of the conference tournament the following day.
