Last season, the women's soccer team came flying out of the gates, starting out by going 4-0 and outscoring its opponents 14-1 in what looked to be another NESCAC Championship season.
But a few injuries and one goal losses later, the Jumbos found themselves on the short end of a 4-3 loss on penalty kicks in the first round of the NESCAC playoffs to the Amherst Lord Jeffs, sending the team home in the toughest of ways.
The fall season has rolled around once again here in Medford, and the squad looks to regain its 2002 championship form when it opens up the season on Saturday against the Colby White Mules at Kraft Field.
Despite losing co-captains Abby Herzberg and Jess Lovitz and classmates Jessica Trombly and Becca Doigan to graduation, along with sophomore Jenny Muller, who transferred to Amherst, the Jumbos have an incredibly deep team heading into the season.
While most other squads in the NESCAC rely mainly on one player to carry the offense, Tufts has a much more team-oriented style of play, which should help it succeed this season. Last season, the Jumbos had eight different goal scorers, led by senior Jen Baldwin (7), Trombly (6), junior Sarah Callaghan (6), and senior co-captain Sarah Gelb (4). In addition, junior Lydia Claudio should be a strong force in the center of the field, if she can stay healthy. Claudio has missed the majority of the last two seasons due to a stress fracture in her foot.
"Our depth will be a huge positive, because we have depth at every position this year," coach Martha Whiting said. "Our experienced group of seniors [is] taking a major role, and have set lofty goals for this team."
The defense, which seems to be the strength of the team year in and year out, will be led this fall by senior Catherine Benedict. Having had a chance to learn from All-Region selections Cara Glassanos and Jess Lovitz over the past two seasons, Benedict should fit right into the role.
On opening day, she'll likely be surrounded by junior Ariel Samuelson, who has started at right back since her freshman year, junior Cate Meeker, who made the team as a sophomore but had an immediate impact at left back, and sophomore Jen Fratto, who saw limited action last season but has been very impressive this preseason.
The Jumbos' strong freshman class will certainly look to fill the holes caused by graduation. Whiting started with 22 newcomers at the first meeting, and narrowed it down to five yesterday. She selected four freshmen, midfielder Anne Benedict, sister of Catherine Benedict, fullback Joelle Emery, midfielder Martha Furtek, and forward Lauren Fedore, and one sophomore, forward Kim Harrington.
"I'm very excited about this year's freshmen, they look very strong," Whiting said. "It's such a good class that we were having a lot of trouble making our final cuts, which is a very positive sign."
Perhaps Tufts' biggest strength heading into this season is its team unity. The squad is led by co-captains Gelb and Becky Greenstein, along with classmates Baldwin, Benedict, goalies Meg McCourt and Jess Gluck, and midfielder Alina Schmidt.
"The entire team has a great attitude and a tremendous amount of heart," Gelb said. "I think our team chemistry is going to play a huge role in our success this year."
Aside from the usual preseason kinks, the team doesn't have any major weaknesses heading into next week's season opener against Colby. In a 2-0 scrimmage victory over Bowdoin on Sunday, the Jumbos had no trouble with two elements that plagued them last season: capitalizing on offensive opportunities and transitioning smoothly from offense to defense.
This week in practice, Whiting, Gelb and Greenstein will mainly look to integrate the new players into the offense and defense, acclimating them to the college game and getting them comfortable with their teammates. In addition, the squad will look to shore up its offensive and defensive strategies.
"We're going to work on playing in sync, getting creative on the offensive side, and making sure our back four are playing confidently as a unit," Whiting said.
After Colby, the Jumbos will face Wheaton, Middlebury, and Amherst, all on the road, before coming back to Tufts to face Babson, Bates, and Worcester State on Homecoming weekend.
