Field hockey team suffers heartbreaking loss

Amid teary eyed seniors who had just played their last home game, along with their exhausted teammates who will not be returning to Huskins Field until next year, there was a sense of pride and determination following Tufts' loss to nationally ranked Middlebury.

The Jumbos left their hearts on the field, matching their opponent step for step before losing in overtime 2-1, as the undefeated Panther's winning score came with just 15 seconds remaining. With the loss, Tufts' league record dropped to 3-5.

"It was a tough loss, we played amazing [field hockey] though," said sophomore midfielder Erika Goodwin, who scored the lone Jumbo goal. "They're a hard team to play."

Hard is an understatement. As of October 21, Middlebury was ranked second in the 2003 STX/NFHCA Division III National Coaches Poll, trailing only The College of New Jersey. Middlebury is now 12-0, and New Jersey is 13-1.

Goodwin's goal began the scoring 11:29 into the first half. It halted Middlebury's offensively-minded beginning, in which they unsuccessfully fired seven times on the Jumbo net in the first ten minutes of play.

Goodwin whipped her quick shot to the right of the pads of Panther freshman goalkeeper Meghan McGillen for the point, getting an assist from freshman forward Tracy Rittenour.

Middlebury responded however, and eight minutes later Panther senior forward and scoring leader Char Glessner pushed a shot past Jumbo senior goalkeeper Julie Jackson, evening the match.

Jackson had an outstanding day, saving a season high 14 shots, many of the difficult variety. Jackson did not allow another Panther goal until almost 65 minutes later. Still, Jackson praised her defenders.

"Our defense played so well today," Jackson said. "We knew it was going to be tough, but we held. The outcome was unfortunate."

The Jumbo defense continually thwarted Middlebury attempts inside of the scoring circle, with the Jumbos' backs to the net for Panther corners 19 times. Of those chances, Tufts was scored upon only once.

Although she scored twice, Glessner's chances were strongly limited by an energized Jumbo resistance that gave her few offensive choices to make. Goodwin, sophomore midfielder Jeanne Grabowski, and junior midfielder Dana Panzer all had superb defensive plays on the day.

"We knew going in what we had to do," Panzer said. "My job was to shut down [Glessner]. It's just unfortunate that we lost."

The second half of play was scoreless, although both sides threatened one another. The Jumbos earned four consecutive penalty corners late in the half, but couldn't put the ball through the uprights.

Overtime was played briskly, with both teams rapidly exchanging offensive drives. Neither side could fully penetrate the other's defense, and as the frame wound down it looked like a score was unlikely. After Jackson made a spectacular save with 1:06 left, it looked like the second overtime was inevitable.

Unfortunately for the Jumbos, a third penalty corner was assessed and Glessner slammed a shot through the right side behind the pads of Jackson, ending the game and stunning the Jumbos.

After the game, Glessner had nothing but praise for Tufts.

"[Tufts] played us really strongly, it was our toughest game of the year," Glassner said. "It was a really great game."

Although this wasn't the ideal ending to their careers at Huskins Field, the Jumbo seniors were in agreement with Glassner's statement.

"I'm glad we ended our last home game like this," senior co-captain Kelly Sarson said. "We played one of our best games of the season."

Fellow senior co-captain Willow Hagge concurred.

"I was really proud of how we played," Hagge said. "We showed a lot of heart; we were the first team to take them into overtime. This wasn't a bad way to leave."

Tufts is still in control of its own destiny, as the Jumbos' magic number for the playoffs holds at one thanks to Tufts winning the tie-breaker, their regular season victory versus Trinity. Hence, either a Tufts win or a Trinity loss next week will send the Jumbos on to the postseason.