Tufts falls to Williams

The women's soccer team dropped its third NESCAC contest in its last four tries on Saturday when it fell to the first place Williams College Ephs. The final score read 4-1 on a brisk, windy day in Williamstown, Mass.

The loss drops the Jumbos to 7-4 overall (3-4, NESCAC) and keeps them in seventh place in the conference with just two weeks left in the regular season.

"I think we played well overall but we were very inconsistent," junior Catherine Benedict said. "We came out flat at the beginning and from there we had spurts of greatness, but there were also times that we were definitely under par."

The Ephs took advantage of the Jumbos' early lack of intensity. In just the fifth minute, Williams junior Afton Johnson settled the ball along the left sideline and centered a cross to the feet of classmate Lindsay Dwyer, who controlled it in front of the net and drilled it past Tufts junior goalie Meg McCourt to put Williams up one.

Just under ten minutes later, the Ephs struck again. Senior co-captain Hannah Stauffer took a corner kick off a Jumbo defender's head and tapped it past McCourt to give Williams an early two goal advantage.

Tufts struck back in the 37th minute as leading scorer junior Jen Baldwin dished a pass to sophomore Sarah Callaghan, who took off for the net. Sophomore Ephs keeper Lindsay Starner charged out and dove for the ball, but Callaghan beat her to it and lofted one over her head into the net to cut the lead in half.

That is the way the first period would end, with the Jumbos down a goal.

"Because we started out so defensive and a bit flat they were able to capitalize on their opportunities," junior Becky Greenstein said. "But then after those goals, we picked it up and put up a much better fight. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes our team a goal against us before we actually start playing our A game."

Eleven minutes into the second half, Williams caught a break when a defensive miscommunication allowed Dwyer to split through the defense on a pass from Stauffer. Dwyer capitalized, burying a shot just out of the reach of a diving McCourt to give the Ephs a comforting two goal lead once again.

"We came out in the second half ready to play, and we played very hard in the first ten minutes," junior Sarah Gelb said. "But they then got a lucky goal which set us back even further and it's hard to come back mentally after something like that happens."

The goal demoralized the Jumbos, and they were unable to rebound.

Ephs junior co-captain Brittany Esty sealed the deal for Williams in the 82nd minute on a deflection into the goal from freshman forward Alix Oliver.

If the playoffs started today, the Jumbos would stand in seventh position, good for the final playoff spot. The Jumbos would face the Ephs in a first round game at Williams, a contest the team no doubt wants to avoid. However, with two more conference games to play against Middlebury and Colby over the next two Saturdays, the Jumbos have a chance to move up to fourth place and host a first round playoff game.

First, Tufts will first have to get through Keene State in non conference action tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Kraft field. The game marks a rematch of last year's NCAA regional semifinal contest that Keene State took 1-0 on an own goal by Tufts.