Five alive

The women's soccer team moved to five games over .500 on Saturday with a 5-1 win over the Trinity Bantams in Hartford, remaining undefeated against the Bantams since 1995. With their fifth straight victory, the Jumbos climbed to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), giving them sole possession of first place for the first time this season.

Tufts struck first in the 20th minute when sophomore Jen Baldwin, who transferred to Tufts from Johns Hopkins at the beginning of the year, connected on her third goal of the season, which tied her for the team lead. The Jumbos kept the pressure on for the remainder of the first half, and in the 43rd minute, freshman Sarah Callaghan took a pass from senior EA Tooley and scored the first goal of her collegiate career.

"It was definitely good to get the first one because it takes off a lot of the pressure," Callaghan said. "I was excited because it was a close game at that point."

The Bantams came out aggressively at the start of the second half, as freshman Caitlin Buzzell scored the second goal of her collegiate career in the 46th minute, bringing Trinity within one. The Jumbos responded quickly when, just 13 seconds later, Tooley sent a pass to junior forward Jess Trombley who shot it into the back of the net, once again giving Tufts a comfortable two goal lead.

The Jumbos continued their domination as the half continued. Leading scorer Baldwin scored her second goal of the game on an assist from sophomore midfielder Sarah Gelb in the 59th minute. Trombley notched her second goal of the game just seven minutes later in the 66th minute on an assist from sophomore defender Catherine Benedict.

The Jumbos dominated the Bantams throughout the entire game, outshooting them 35-7 overall. "We played really well, even though it was very cold and the field was very wet. We need to start finishing our chances, and today we definitely did," Callaghan said.

Despite a victory last Tuesday at Brandeis, the Jumbos were not at all pleased with their play and worked very hard in practice on ball movement and shooting. The hard work seemed to come to fruition on Saturday.

"It was definitely worthwhile because we worked really well as a team on Saturday and we finished our chances," Callaghan said. The five-goal outburst by Tufts was the most by the team against a NESCAC opponent since a 5-2 victory at Bates 14 years ago.

The Jumbos face NESCAC opponent Wesleyan, a team that they have dominated for the past two years, today at 4 p.m.. The last-place Cardinals are 2-7-1 overall and 0-4-1 in the NESCAC. Perhaps Tufts' toughest and most important game of the season is this coming Saturday against arch-nemesis Williams. The second place Ephs are 8-3 overall and 4-2 in the NESCAC this season, but have beaten the Jumbos in two of the past three years and are 6-1 on the road this year.