Women's soccer slams WPI

The women's soccer team moved two games above .500 yesterday when it defeated the visiting non-conference WPI Engineers 3-1. The Jumbos climbed to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in NESCAC, keeping them in a second place tie with Williams.

Tufts was aggressive early, as it kept the ball in the WPI zone for the first five minutes of the game, including an unsuccessful corner kick and a near goal by junior forward Jess Trombley. The Jumbos kept the pressure on for the first 14 minutes of the game.

WPI advanced the ball into Jumbo territory in the 14th minute. The Jumbo defense, led by senior co-captain Cara Glassanos, quickly cleared the ball, which put Tufts immediately back on the offensive. In the 15th minute, coach Martha Whiting inserted senior midfielder EA Tooley, who later would have great impact for the outcome of the game.

Tooley quickly got involved in the action and fired a shot on goal within two minutes of entering the game. The Jumbos struck first soon after, in the 18th minute, as junior Becca Doigan sent a centering cross to Tooley, who punched the ball past the WPI keeper into the left corner of the net to give Tufts a 1-0 lead.

Doigan faked her defender in the right corner of the field and sent a quick centering pass into a crowd of Jumbos in the 21st minute. Following the pass, Tooley sent a perfect header into the corner of the goal to give the Jumbos a quick 2-0 advantage, all this before the Engineers had even gotten off a shot.

Tufts continued to attack the WPI defense for the remainder of the half, outshooting WPI 17-1 in the first half alone. The Jumbos hustled to every ball. Their defense was strong, communicating well and rarely allowing the Engineers to advance the ball inside the 20 yard line.Tufts went into halftime sporting a 2-0 lead.

Trombley came out firing in the second half continuing the Jumbos' offensive dominance, taking six of the Jumbos first seven shots, including two unsuccessful breakaways. In the 56th minute, sophomore defender Megan Holmes, WPI's leading scorer, fired a hard shot from 20 yards out that sailed through the hands of sophomore backup goalie Jess Gluck and into the net.

The Jumbos, undeterred by the goal, went right back on the attack and in the 60th minute, Tooley sent a perfect centering cross to Trombley. Tufts' leading scorer last year, headed it into the center of the goal for her first of the season, giving Tufts a comfortable two goal lead.

Even with a two goal lead, Tufts kept strong for the final 30 minutes of the contest. The defense held strong, and the offense, led by co-captain midfielder Alle Sharlip, kept the pressure on the WPI defense.

Players fatigued more and more in the final minutes of the game, and the number of fouls increased, including Glassanos getting slapped across the face and clotheslined to the ground. Sharlip quickly avenged the hit, taking down a WPI player in the ensuing minute. The Jumbos continued to be aggressive until the final whistle, outshooting the Engineers 28-5 in the game.

Despite their dominance, the Jumbos were disappointed with their play on the whole.

"We dominated, but if we want to beat the Williams' and Bowdoin's of the world, we'll have to play to better," Whiting said.

"We made them look a lot better than they really are." Glassanos said.

Both teams substituted frequently, with Whiting using all twenty players, including five freshman, that dressed for the game.

"We have a strong freshman class, and they are going to be really good in the next four years," Trombley said.

Most notable was forward Sarah Callaghan, who got her first real opportunity to play significant minutes.

"I did okay, it's different adjusting, but the team is very welcoming," Callaghan said. "It was fun to finally get out and play."

The Jumbos were especially happy with this win because they avenged their loss to the Engineers last season.

"We scored goals, which is always good," Sharlip said. "Because it's something we've been having trouble with over the past few games. We could have done a lot better, but we still won and its great to win."