The Wheaton College Lyons came out and showed the Tufts women's soccer team why they're the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, shutting out the Jumbos 2-0 in non-league action in Norton, Mass. on Wednesday.
Two first-half goals by the Lyons demoralized the Jumbos, as the squad failed to earn its first win of the season. The loss brought the Jumbos record to 0-1-1 overall, but kept them in a tie for fourth with Colby in the NESCAC with a 0-0-1 mark.
The Jumbos actually came out of the gates playing strong soccer, controlling possession and attacking the Wheaton back line. However, Wheaton seemed to be playing with more intensity than Tufts, which came back to haunt the Jumbos later.
"There were a lot of different factors that went into us coming out slowly," coach Martha Whiting said. "I think it did have something to do with it being the first midweek game and we sometimes have trouble getting up for those games. Also, subconsciously we might have been a little intimidated, thinking too much in the back of our mind that we were playing Wheaton, and they were No. 1 in the region, No. 2 in the country."
In the 25th minute, Wheaton sophomore Jordan Pouliot took the rebound of junior teammate Teresa LeBel's shot and poked it past Jumbo senior goalie Meg McCourt to give Wheaton its first goal of the game.
The Lyons did not stop there. Just 81 seconds later, the Jumbos were unable to clear a corner kick, allowing senior forward Beth Caromile to send a header into the corner of the net past McCourt to give Wheaton a 2-0 edge.
The two quick goals seemed to deflate the Jumbos, who weren't running off the ball or stringing passes together and thus were unable to pose any real threats to the Wheaton defense.
At halftime, Whiting told her team what she thought of the game so far.
"I told them how disappointed I was with the effort they gave in the first half," Whiting said. "We had no reason to pack it in, but if we were going to play the way we were playing we should just go home.
"I'm not sure if it was what I said that lit a fire inside them, but we started to believe in ourselves and we realized that Wheaton is just another team and this was just another game."
Teammates said senior co-captain Becky Greenstein also stepped up to try and fire up the squad for the second frame.
"Becky told everyone that if they weren't working as hard as [freshman center-midfielder Martha] Furtek, it wasn't worth being out there," senior co-captain Sarah Gelb said. "I think that, overall, the team knew we had to pick up the intensity and start winning every 50/50 ball."
The Jumbos came out like a totally new team in the second half; running harder, challenging for loose balls, and working together to attack the Wheaton net, instead of just kicking the ball up field and hoping for a Wheaton error. Even though they didn't score, the Jumbos played more like one cohesive unit, displaying the same intensity they had against Colby over the weekend.
"The biggest difference was that we came out a lot more determined and started to play our game, Whiting said. It was the intensity level that dictated how we played."
The Jumbos match up tomorrow afternoon against the Middlebury Panthers in Middlebury, Vermont. The team looks to build on last season's home performance against the Panthers, when they came away victorious, 2-1.
For the Jumbos to be successful they will need to contain Middlebury senior tri-captain Brittany Cronin, who already has four goals this season. The Jumbos defense did an excellent job containing Colby powerhouse Laura Williamson last weekend, and senior Catherine Benedict and sophomore Jen Fratto will have to be equally effective tomorrow for the Jumbos to take the victory.
However, the Jumbos want to focus on themselves and sharpen general weaknesses instead of tailoring their game to Middlebury's style of play.
"We're going to completely focus on ourselves right now," Whiting said. "Having talked to some of the seniors, we need to focus on pumping up intensity level in practice and making it ultra-competitive.
"We're a really talented team, and if we raise the intensity so that our work rate is equal to our talent, we're going to do some really good things."
