Despite its preseason ranking of first in New England and fifth in the nation, Tufts' women's soccer team opened the season with a disappointing 4-1 loss at non-conference foe Babson College on Saturday. The loss marked the first time the Jumbos had dropped a game to the Beavers, their perennial opening game opponent, in the last four years. Babson improved to 3-0 with the win against a Tufts squad that was without senior co-captain and top scorer Lynn Cooper, who missed the game due to a family commitment.
"It's tough," coach Martha Whiting said. "It's so disappointing. Kind of embarrassing for all of us. But if anything, it's only going to motivate us. We're really going to be okay."
And even with Tufts' impressive track record against Babson and all the Jumbos' accolades, Whiting did not attribute the loss to overconfidence.
"It's not so much overconfidence as pressure to live up to the expectations of everyone else," she said. "We have different expectations, because everyone else sees only awards and statistics. It's just a matter of pushing all the external expectations aside." Tufts jumped out to an early lead Saturday with a goal by sophomore Becca Doigan in the third minute of the contest, only to watch the hosts claw their way back with four unanswered goals of their own - two in each half. But the pivotal moment came in the 24th minute when senior goalie Mara Schanfield received a red card for a goal-saving foul.
With the score tied at one, Schanfield interfered with a Babson player on a breakaway by grabbing her opponent's leg, preventing a goal but heavily penalizing her team in the process. In accordance with a new NCAA regulation that any intentional foul warrants a red card, Schanfield was immediately given one as the foul was deemed premeditated.
"The Babson attacker got through the defenders," said Whiting, a former Tufts goalkeeper herself. "It was a clear breakaway, maybe 25 yards out, and Mara had been pushed up where she should be. In a last ditch effort, she reached for the ball and ended up catching the kid's leg instead. That was her instinct, and that's fine with me."
As a result of the penalty, Schanfield was ejected from the game and Tufts was forced to continue with 10 field players instead of the normal 11, though the team was allowed to bring in its back up goalie, freshman Meg McCourt. Also in accordance with NCAA regulations, Schanfield will be forced to sit out her team's next game, a 4:30 p.m. match-up on Wednesday at Wesleyan.
While Schanfield acknowledges the foul, she questions the official's decision to hand out a red card. "It's disappointing," she said. "Yes, I definitely committed a foul, but I don't know if it warranted a red. My main objective was to protect the goal."
The forced absence is a disappointment for Schanfield, who was starting for just the fourth time in her career. After spending the previous three years as a back-up to the since graduated, third-team All American selection Randee McArdle, Schanfield had appeared in nine games and logged 451 minutes between the pipes with three wins and 21 saves to her credit before Saturday.
"I'm just going to work really hard this week and get ready for Middlebury," she said.
McCourt entered the game in place of Schanfield, and was credited with two saves on the day. Whiting complimented McCourt's play, especially considering the circumstances.
"She did well, considering the situation that she was thrown into," Whiting said. "She's been with us now for only a total of eight days. Of the goals she gave up, one was a phenomenal shot 35 yards away on the wing. The other two were breakaways, and there's not too much a goalie can do on those."
Doigan put Tufts on the board at 3:10 in the first half with an unassisted tally, when she converted her own rebound for the third goal of her career. But just over seven minutes later, Babson began its scoring wave when freshman Lauren Angelos beat Schanfield, and continued to dominate play for the rest of the first half.
In the second half, although the Jumbos stepped up their offensive attack, Babson still managed to tack two more scores onto its lead. The first came on a breakaway three and a half minutes into the second stanza, as senior Tara Haverty scored her fourth goal of the year. Freshman Jennifer Donahue then provided the nail in the coffin at 68:53, to push the score to 4-1. Donahue took a picture-perfect pass from classmate Toni Pantuosco and promptly blasted the ball past McCourt.
"For a lot of the second half we dominated play," Whiting said. "We weren't quite as good in the first half. And if you put on constant pressure, then when the other team counters quickly, you're on your heels a bit defensively."
As a result of this, Whiting singled out defense as an area that the squad needs to work on. The defensive starting unit of sophomore Jess Lovitz, senior co-captain Katie Ruddy, sophomore Abby Herzberg, and junior Cara Glassnos spent less then 20 total minutes together on the field, as Glassanos was used sparingly due to a back injury. Freshman Alina Schmidt subbed for Glassanos and played well, according to the coach.
"I need to prepare the defenders more for Wednesday," Whiting said. "I could have prepared them a little better for different scenarios."
Schanfield echoed her coach's sentiments. "There are a couple of things we need to work on defensively," she said. "Like communication and our defensive shape and closing down the spaces."
The Jumbos also had trouble finishing scoring opportunities against Babson. Tufts outshot its opponents for the afternoon, 23 to 15, while also taking seven corner kicks to Babson's three.
"We didn't put the ball in the net, and we didn't play well defensively," Whiting said. "I think it's both ends. Both areas need some work. I think having Cooper back will help as well."
But for now, the consensus for the Jumbos is to focus on the present, rather than the past. "It's hard," senior midfielder Katie Kehrberger said. "Everyone expects so much. But this is a new team. It's a new year, everyone always talks about last year, last year, last year. [The loss] is easy to bounce back from. We're obviously disappointed, but it's not a season-ending loss."
