Tufts found themselves on the wrong end of another close game yesterday, dropping a heartbreaker 8-7 to Amherst at Bello Field. The Jumbos rallied against the Lord Jeffs, ranked third in the country by various polls, but let a lead slip away in the final eight minutes.
Senior co-captain Megan Doughty led the Jumbos with three goals and two assists. Junior Meredith Harris added two goals as did sophomore Lauren Murphy in the loss.
Tufts rallied from a 5-1 deficit early in the second half to take a 7-6 lead with 8:56 left in the game. That's when Amherst went to work, scoring two goals in the next five and a half minutes to steal a win from the Jumbos at home.
"We had a great comeback run," Doughty said. "They interrupted our flow with a goal. It was so close at the end of the game and we just couldn't get the momentum back."
Amherst took a 2-0 lead in the first half, getting two assisted goals from sophomore Liz Wise. Meanwhile, the Jumbo offense could not get going, missing on free position opportunities and plays in the zone. A steal by freshman Sarah Williams finally sparked the Jumbos as they worked the ball up Murphy for their first goal at the 8:15 mark.
However, penalties were the Achilles' heal for the Jumbos. The Lord Jeffs picked up two more goals before half time, one off a free position resulting from three seconds in the arc and another off a penalty on senior Lauren Herman. Amherst took a 4-1 lead into the break.
Senior Ashley Harmeling, who had a goal in the first half, came out six minutes into the second half and got another off a free position from three seconds, putting Amherst up 5-1.
"We got called like a half dozen times for three seconds and obstruction of shooting space and they capitalized on three of them," coach Carol Rappoli said. "It's just unlucky."
Harmeling, last year's NESCAC player of the year, had three goals on the day for Amherst. She leads the Lord Jeffs in scoring for the second year in a row. Herman had the tough task of guarding her.
"Basically to get her out of her game you have to put a body on her and take her out of the game mentally firsthand and physically she'll take herself out of the game," Herman said.
Down 5-1, Tufts finally got something going. Doughty scored her first goal of the game only a few seconds after Harmeling's score. Harris had her first goal only a minute later, making the score 5-3 with 21:17 left.
At the other end, senior goalie Dana Panzer had a big stop on Harmeling on a free position followed minutes later by another Harris score off a great pass from Doughty to make the score 5-4.
Coming out of the half, Tufts knew they needed to capitalize on Amherst's midfield defense, which they knew was weak.
"We could take advantage of that and get the ball back really easily," Doughty said. "By being really intense and doubling up on the ball we made them turn it over a lot."
With the Jumbos back in the game, Amherst took a timeout and at 11:28, Harmeling nailed an acrobatic shot while double-teamed by Harris and Herman to put Amherst up 6-4.
Tufts then reeled off three straight goals in under a minute. Doughty connected on a free position with 9:54 left and then took a pass from Murphy a few seconds later to even up the score. Doughty then returned the favor moments later as Murphy scored with 8:56 remaining to give Tufts a 7-6 lead.
The rest of the game, though, belonged to the Lord Jeffs. With 5:16 left, Wise stole a Panzer pass after a save and hit sophomore Alyssa Briody to tie the game back up. Two minutes later, Wise scored her third goal of the game off a pass from sophomore Lauren Dudley as Amherst regained the lead.
The Jumbos had opportunities in the final few minutes to even the game back up, but to no avail. Panzer spent 40 seconds clearing the ball after a save, using valuable seconds to ensure that she didn't turn the ball over again. Strong Amherst defense in the midfield kept Doughty and freshman Alyssa Corbett from finding scoring chances, as both players had the ball stolen.
With only 40 seconds to go, Herman tried a run and took the ball the length of the field, using her speed and getting a good shot off.
"I just wanted a goal," Herman said. "I wanted to pass to someone. I didn't want to take the last shot but I didn't have any options. So I went right to the goal and unfortunately it didn't work."
Amherst managed to steal a game from the Jumbos in their final home game of the season. It marked the third time this season that Tufts lost by only one goal. Doughty's goals and Harris' play sparked the 6-1 comeback for the Jumbos as they were minutes away from a huge win over the third-ranked team in the nation.
"Those kids are bold, dynamic, elite athletes," Rappoli said. "They're capable of carrying the kids on the team and making other kids better. I thought they played very, very well in the second half."
Tufts will travel to Lewiston, Maine on Saturday for their match against Bates. As of press time, Bates is 7-7 (2-5 in NESCAC). With a win over Bowdoin today, Bates will have a three-way tie with Wesleyan and the Jumbos for sixth in the conference with only seven teams making the
tournament. Tufts controls their own playoff destiny with a win and can also make the tournament with a Wesleyan loss.
Assuming the Jumbos make the tournament, they will see either Bowdoin, to whom they lost 7-6, or Amherst again.
"We'd love to rematch either of those teams," Herman said. "I think we could take either of them."
