Jumbos dominate Sharks in 2-0 victory

The women's soccer team improved to six games above .500 with a 2-0 darkness shortened home win over the non-conference Simmons Sharks yesterday. With the victory, the Jumbos improved to 9-3-1 overall (5-2-1 NESCAC), and remained tied for first place in the NESCAC with Williams, Amherst, and Bowdoin.

Tufts came out strong in the first half, as it kept the ball in the Sharks zone for the first seven minutes of the game. Yet, despite many golden opportunities to score in the first half, the Jumbos were unable to capitalize.

This inability to put the ball in the net was especially obvious in the final ten minutes of the first half when Tufts managed to fire off six shots but was unable to score on any of the attempts. With the exception of junior fullback Jess Lovitz, every Jumbo who saw action in the half took a shot, but nobody was able to put it past the Sharks' goalie.

While the Tufts offense was struggling, the Jumbo defense was hardly challenged in the first half, as it quickly quelled any of the Sharks potential opportunities. In fact, it took 31 minutes for the Sharks to record their first shot, a weak one that came from the left sideline that sophomore netminder Meg McCourt had no trouble stopping.

At halftime, Coach Martha Whiting had some strong words for her players. "I told them that we had 20 shots in the first half, and zero goals," she said. "We need to play with fire in the box, and everyone needs to step up and not wait for someone else to score a goal."

Whiting's pep talk obviously worked, because the Jumbos came out aggressively at the start of the second half, and took four shots on net in the first five minutes. In the 51st minute, Sophomore Jennifer Baldwin streaked down the left sideline and sent a centering cross to junior forward Becca Doigan, who connected on her second goal of the season.

The Jumbos continued to have their way with Simmons' defense, and managed to keep the ball in the Sharks' zone for the majority of the second half. Tufts continued to freely fire shots on net, but Simmons freshman goalie Amanda Cummings stayed held strong.

In the 86th minute, however, the Jumbo offense broke through again when freshman Sarah Callaghan sent a quick centering pass from the right side to sophomore midfielder Becky Greenstein, who poked it into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.

Although the Jumbos only scored two goals, they nevertheless dominated the Sharks throughout the game, outshooting them 42-1 overall, as 15 Jumbos recorded at least one shot. McCourt needed only one save to record her fifth shutout of the season.

"Overall, we did a good job today, though we never really get up for non-conference games," Whiting said. "We passed the ball real well, and our backs did a great job of switching the field and quickly advancing the ball forward. We could have played better, but it worked out in the end."

"We played great today," senior co-captain Alle Sharlip added. "Except for the fact that we couldn't score."

The Jumbos were without a few key players for yesterday's game. Junior forward Jess Trombly sprained her ankle this past Saturday against Middlebury, though she should be ready for Saturday's game against Colby. Sophomore midfielder Sarah Gelb has a strained hamstring and is listed as day to day. Finally, freshman midfielder Lydia Claudio is out for the season with a stress fracture in her tibia.

On a healthy note, the Jumbos were happy welcomed back sophomore defender Alina Schmidt, who saw her first action since sustaining a back injury at Bowdoin on Oct. 5.

"It was great to finally have Alina back on defense today; she's a very controlled soccer player," Whiting said.

The Jumbos are now focusing all of their energy for their final game of the season, against the Colby White Mules this coming Saturday. If the Jumbos win, and both Amherst and Bowdoin win their games against Wesleyan and Bates respectively, Tufts will win the NESCAC, and thus get a first round bye in the conference tournament, which starts this Sunday.

"It looks good for us as of now," Sharlip said. "But you never know what could happen." "We are going to spend a lot of time working on finishing our shots this week in practice," Whiting said. "We are pretty good at creating opportunities for ourselves, but we need to work on just putting the ball in the back of the net."