The women's soccer team, which jumped to seventh in the nation in the latest NSCAA national poll, continued its dominance in the New England region yesterday, defeating the Brandeis Judges 2-0 on Kraft Field in non-conference action.
"I never thought we were going to lose," senior tri-captain Ariel Samuelson said. "We just made them look a lot better than they actually are."
The win, which put the Jumbos at 7-1 overall (3-1, NESCAC), marked the first time in three years Tufts has come away with a positive verdict against the Judges. The winning streak is the longest for the program since 2000, and is one shy of the all-time Tufts record of eight consecutive wins, set in 1979.
The 2-0 score, however, was not indicative of the way the Jumbos dominated on the field. Tufts outshot the Judges 21-3, and had seven golden opportunities deep in the Brandeis zone, all of which very well could have gone into the net.
"We played well enough to win today, but we all have mixed emotions because we missed so many opportunities," coach Martha Whiting said. "On the bright side, we were getting a lot of opportunities; we just need to work on putting them away."
Despite not being happy with its play, Tufts was happy to extend its winning streak and gain some momentum heading into Saturday's huge NESCAC bout with Bowdoin.
"It's very important for us to take one game at a time," junior Kim Harrington said. "We try not to be too concerned with our record and let it interfere with our play."
Tufts controlled the ball on the Brandeis side of the field for virtually the entire game, coming out strong and setting the tone early. The Jumbos systematically worked the ball down the sidelines and sent a combination of low through-balls and high crosses into the middle, hoping to slip one past Judges sophomore keeper Betsey Meadow.
Meadow held strong early, sending away shot after shot, but it was only a matter of time before the home squad would get on the scoreboard.
That time came 33 minutes into the first half, when Tufts was able to take advantage of a Brandeis snafu. Senior Lydia Claudio sent a high shot from 30 yards out that bounced in front of Meadow and was clearly going wide left.
Meadow tried to possess the ball, however, and it slipped out of her hands and fell out of bounds to give the home team a corner kick. Harrington took possession of the ensuing corner and sent a shot from the right side of the pitch to the far post past Meadow. A Brandeis defender covering the far post was able to deflect the ball away from the net, but Furtek took control and sent it into the net to put Tufts up 1-0.
"We really showed that we can possess the ball consistently all game," Whiting said. "There were spurts today where we looked fantastic."
The score remained that way through the rest of the half, with Tufts continuing to dominate the ball, keeping it in the Brandeis zone and keeping the pressure off the back four and junior goalie Annie Ross.
The second half saw more of the same. Tufts creating opportunity after opportunity to score, but was just unable to get that all-important insurance goal. The Judges started to get a lot more aggressive as the half wound down, working very hard to equalize the contest. The back four of Benedict, classmates Joelle Emery and Jess Wagner, and junior Jen Fratto held its ground and helped preserve the shutout for Ross.
The Jumbos had a great chance to get a second goal with 38 minutes left in the game. Claudio ripped a near perfect shot from 35 yards out that grazed the top of the crossbar and bounced straight down onto the goal line. The linesman, despite looking out of position, signaled a no-goal and play continued.
Meadow, thinking it was a goal, casually rolled the ball out towards the 18 yard line. Senior tri-captain Lindsay Garmirian hustled to the ball and gained possession, but her shot just missed the far post and the scored remained 1-0.
While the Jumbos were only able to take advantage of 2 of their 21 shots, the silver lining lies in the fact that the team was able to create good opportunities for itself all afternoon.
"All that means is that when we start finishing balls like we're supposed to, we're going to kill teams like this," Samuelson said.
Late in the game, the Jumbos finally tacked on the elusive insurance goal. Garmirian sent one of her many textbook crosses into the box to Furtek. The sophomore, eager to score her second goal of the game, spun around her mark and sent a low shot that was deflected by a Brandeis defender.
Samuelson corralled the ball and ripped a shot past Meadow for her team and NESCAC-leading seventh goal of the season, putting Tufts up 2-0. Fellow senior tri-captain Sarah Callaghan joins her classmate atop the NESCAC statistics, leading the conference with six assists.
The last 10 minutes were a mere formality, as both squads knew the game belonged to the Jumbos. The win kept the team undefeated at home this year at 4-0. The Jumbos will look to keep their home record untarnished this weekend when the Bowdoin Polar Bears come to town for one of Tufts' biggest games of the season.
