The hockey team entered a weekend against similarly below-.500 teams and expected to emerge with at least one victory. That didn't happen, however, as Tufts lost consecutive games to NESCAC opponents Hamilton and Amherst in another disappointing weekend.
The losses push the Jumbos to 4-15 and 3-13 in the NESCAC, where they remain in last place.
"It's a little hard, losing all the time, and we're getting a little tired," junior co-captain Chris Martin said. "We've got one more weekend left and we're just gonna play hard."
On Saturday, the Jumbos lost to Amherst in an 8-1 blowout. The Lord Jeffs dominated the second period, where they put away five of their eight goals. Martin put the Jumbos on the scoreboard with their lone goal less than two minutes into the game off an assist from freshman Brian Conti.
With the victory, Amherst improved to 6-11-5 overall and 6-7-4 in conference play, moving the Lord Jeffs out of a seventh place tie with Conn. College in the NESCAC.
The loss came at the heels of a Friday night trouncing by Hamilton College, as the Continentals ended their four-game slide with a 10-2 victory over the Jumbos. Tufts got on the board in the last minute of play in the second stanza on an unassisted goal by junior tri-captain Mike Carceo. In the third period, junior Matt Potts scored his first career goal off of an assist from senior Rob Greene.
After the game, Martin said the team's first season in the NESCAC has been a rough one. "We really aren't used to this caliber of teams," he said. "It's a lot faster hockey. Once we make that transition we'll be absolutely better. It'll get a lot better next year, I don't know if it will all come through, but we'll be more experienced."
A continual bright spot in the Jumbos' tumultuous season thus far has been the consistent play of Carceo, who has 12 goals and 19 assists to his credit, and is ranked eighth in the NESCAC in scoring with 1.41 ppg.
Goaltenders senior Ian Kell and sophomore Ben Crapser are also playing well under the rapid fire of tough competitors. In 15 contests, the younger goaltender has made 350 saves, while Kell accounts for 315 saves in 14 games.
Early on in the season, the Jumbos knew their first year in the NESCAC would bring some bumps along the way - but the team could not have prepared for the level of play it encountered in the league. Now, Martin and his teammates are now focused on not let the losing season hinder improvement next year. "What it all comes down to is we have to play through this stuff," Martin said. "We all knew it would be like this, even though I don't know if we all knew it would be this tough. But we've got to do this to be ready for next year."
The team heads into its final week of play with modest expectations. "I'm not really worried about winning, I just want to play hard," Martin said. "If we play hard that will be a great way to end the season."
