Field hockey falls to Middlebury, remains in playoff picture

The Tufts field hockey team was defeated 4-0 Saturday by second-place Middlebury in Vermont. The NESCAC loss leaves Tufts in seventh place and creates a must-win situation for next weekend's league match versus Colby.

The Jumbos came into the pouring rain and biting 45 degree temperatures of northern New England with an upset in mind. Although facing one of the league's best, Tufts was intent on preventing the Panthers' potent offense from scoring and hoped to take advantage of any Middlebury mistakes.

"We were really positive coming in off of the upset against Wesleyan," sophomore Dana Panzer said, "we were very optimistic."

Tufts came out strong for the first ten minutes of the game taking Middlebury by surprise.

"We dominated in the beginning and had a lot of shots," freshman Lea Napolitano said.

Although Tufts initially caught the Panthers on their heels, it was unable to finish its shots. The first goal of the competition came sixteen minutes into the opening half when Middlebury freshman Channing Weymouth scored on an assist from sophomore Ashley Pullen. Ten minutes later, fellow freshman Panther Allison Smith tallied the second goal of the contest after capitalizing on junior Char Glessner's centering pass.

After regrouping during half time, Tufts came out with a strong defense for the first twenty minutes of the second frame.

"We did well containing and played a good defensive game overall," Napolitano said.

The squad did not allow a goal for nearly half of the period and put together several attacks in the Middlebury zone. However, Pullen managed to find the back of the net at 18:29 to increase the Panthers' lead to 3-0. Sophomore Sydney Atkins added another Middlebury insurance goal just six minutes later to cap off the day's scoring and give the Panthers their ninth win of the season. Senior co-captain and NESCAC player-of-the-week Kate Perine assisted on both second half goals.

"We knew about her going in and made sure she was marked," Napolitano said, "she was hard to contain."

Tufts' offensive struggles continued as they were shut out for the sixth time this year. Although the team practiced on the artificial surface of the Gantcher Center all week and did not feel the adverse weather hurt its performance, it still could not capitalize in enemy territory.

"It was an evenly matched game going back and forth," Panzer said, "the score really doesn't reflect how we played."

With the victory, Middlebury now stands in a three-way first place tie with Williams and Bowdoin. All three teams hold 6 -2 league records and will host parts of the upcoming postseason tournament.

Tufts remains in playoff contention going into the final week of the regular season despite the loss. The Jumbos will face non-league Gordon on Tuesday and fellow NESCAC member Colby on Saturday. The Colby game will determine whether or not the Jumbos will play the next day in postseason competition. The White Mules currently reside in sixth place with the Jumbos close-by in a seventh place tie with Amherst. To advance to the postseason, Tufts must either beat Colby or hope Amherst falls to ninth place Trinity.

Should both teams see the same results, Tufts holds the advantage over Amherst due to its early season victory against the Jeffs. Given these circumstances, the possession of the coveted seventh NESCAC playoff spot will come down to the wire in this last week. Energy and emotion will feed a hungry Jumbo squad as they wrap up the regular season.

"This game will be a large part of our season. If we win, we go on, if we lose, we're done," Panzer said, "There will be lots of emotion going in."