After a two year hiatus, the women's lacrosse team is back in the NESCAC playoffs.
By dropping Colby with a convincing 12-5 victory on Saturday at Tufts, the Jumbos improved their record to 6-4 overall, 3-4 in the NESCAC, and secured at least a seventh place finish in league with two games left to play. The top seven teams will move on to the postseason.
Jumbo junior midfielder Megan Doughty was dominant offensively for the Jumbos, scoring five of Tufts' 12 goals to give her 19 on the year. Two of Doughty's scores came within the last three minutes of play in the first half, breaking a 16 minute 3-3 stalemate and sending Tufts to a 6-3 halftime lead.
"The goals right at the end of the first half definitely gave us momentum going into the half," Doughty said.
Coach Carol Rappoli, usually stoic when discussing game details, was visibly excited when discussing the Jumbos' performance on Saturday.
"That was huge, those goals at the end of the first half," Rappoli said, grinning as she took congratulations from parents and players on seniors' day. "It allowed us to head into halftime with some added confidence, and a little [room] to work with."
Still, Tufts stayed the course and didn't settle for its halftime total of six, which already turned out to be more than enough goals than it would need on the day.
"In lacrosse, anything can happen," Doughty said. "We knew we had to come out even stronger in the second half and keep up the goal differential."
Although Colby threatened early in the second half, scoring twice in the first eight minutes to close the score to 6-5, the Jumbos honored Doughty's assertion by allowing no more Colby goals and tacking on six more of their own in the final 19 minutes of play.
Jumbo career scoring-leader, junior Willow Hagge, and senior midfielder Lauren Peach both added a pair of goals for Tufts, with junior forward Jen Griffin and sophomores Dena Miller and Meredith Harris each credited with a goal. Miller leads the Jumbos offensively with 32 total points, thanks to her team-high 26 goals and six assists.
The Jumbos' trailed only once in the game, down 2-1 early in the first half, and both the offense and defense looked sharp in the important match-up with the playoffs on the line. The Jumbo defense did not allow a goal for the final 19:31 of the game, and junior goalkeeper Sarah Lipson was impressive, stopping 7 of 12 shot attempts that came her way (.583).
"We told the kids that they had the opportunity to control their destiny with their play today, and the kids came out, they played hard, and they did just that by getting the win," Rappoli said. "Megan [Doughty] and Lauren Peach were absolutely dominating, we played the entire field; just the whole team played wonderfully."
The Jumbos found themselves on the outside of the NESCAC playoff picture before Saturday's game, but the win against then-seventh place Colby bumped Tufts into a four way tie for fourth place, alongside Bowdoin, Trinity, and Wesleyan. Colby dropped to eighth, still clinging to a chance to make the playoffs if it wins both games or wins one and gets help with losses from either Trinity or Bowdoin.
Because of future match-ups, primarily because Wesleyan must face off against both Trinity and Colby for its last two games, there is no way the Jumbos can fall below seventh regardless of how they fare against Amherst and Connecticut College in their final two league games of the year.
Amherst sits comfortably in second place with a 6-1 league record, while Connecticut College is already eliminated from the NESCAC playoffs, with a 1-7 in-conference record.
