How quickly the tables can turn in a span of just seven days.
After an upset loss to Bates last Sunday in the NESCAC Championship game, the Women's soccer team was yearning all week for a second shot at the Bobcats in the NCAA regional semifinals.
With both teams holding seed in the quarters, the Jumbos got their wish and made the most of it. Tufts corrected all of its shortcomings from last weekend, controlling the ball for the majority of the game and neutralizing Bates' strong offensive weapons en route to a 1-0 victory on Kraft Field. The win allowed Tufts to advance to the NCAA Regional Finals against Wheaton College next weekend.
"It feels awesome," junior center fullback Jen Fratto said. "It would have been very difficult to let a team come to our field twice in a week and lose to them twice. We obviously really wanted to get the win. We ended their season yesterday, which was awesome."
"We're on cloud nine," sophomore center midfielder Martha Furtek added.
The Jumbos, looking rested after a light week of practice, came out flying against the Bobcats, keeping the ball on the offensive side of the field and applying heavy early pressure on Bates' defense.
"Last week we came out flat, which at this level you just can't do because any team is good enough to capitalize on that. We knew we had to come out ready and fired up and we did. We played the best we have all season, and we're all thrilled," Furtek said.
In the 24th minute, the Jumbos were finally able to break through for what would prove to be the lone goal of the game. Senior tri-captain Sarah Callaghan shook off two Bates defenders and sent a perfect cross to the far post. Junior Kim Harrington, charging at the back post, leapt and connected with her right foot, drilling the ball past Bates' sophomore keeper Nini Spalding into the back of the net to put the home team up 1-0.
"I was just hoping someone was on the back post," Callaghan said. "We've been working on back post runs all year and Kim was where she was supposed to be."
The goal was Harrington's second of the season.
"I think it was one of the prettiest goals I've seen scored here," coach Martha Whiting added. "Cal shook not one, but two defenders and got the cross off, and Kim just came out of nowhere. And that's a tough ball to handle when you're coming in with that much speed. We never looked back from there."
Senior tri-captain Ariel Samuelson, Furtek and sophomore Lauren Fedore led the Tufts charge late in the first half, not giving the Bates defense a break nor letting up despite having just scored a goal. Tufts' back four, with the help of senior defensive center midfielder Lydia Claudio, was able to neutralize Bates' speed on the flanks, mainly from juniors Kim Alexander and Jesse Garguilo, and make things easy for junior keeper Annie Ross.
Tufts cruised into halftime up a goal, but knew that it could not let up in the second half.
"We had them where we wanted them," Whiting said. "And we knew if we could match the intensity we had in the first half in the second half, there was no way they would be able to come back."
The Jumbos succeeded in keeping the intensity up all through the second half, never allowing Bates a clear shot at the net - a stark contrast from last weekend's contest. While the offense did its part to keep the pressure on Bates' defense, the true credit for Tufts' victory goes to the defense.
Fratto, sophomores Jessie Wagner, Annie Benedict, and Joelle Emery, and Ross combined for the team's ninth shutout of the season-the most by any NESCAC team.
The defense shut down a Bates team that scored a NESCAC-leading 50 goals this season, 16 more than the next closest competitor. Benedict's speed and physical presence at sweeper completely shut down Alexander, who, including the playoffs, led the conference in scoring with 29 points.
Emery, on the left side, did her part to frustrate Garguilo, who accounted for all three of Bates' goals in their quarterfinal match.
And while Ross was never truly tested by Bates' offense, she still corralled all seven shots that went her way en route to the victory.
"Our defense was amazing today," Samuelson said. "Bates' strength is their offense, they have several dangerous players and our defense held them to very few opportunities all game. It was definitely the biggest factor today."
To get to Bates, the Jumbos first had to face off against the Johnson and Wales Wildcats on Saturday afternoon. In front of a boisterous crowd, the Jumbos minced the Wildcats, scoring almost at will and controlling possession for what seemed like the entire game.
Tufts set the tone early, when senior tri-captain Lindsay Garmirian tapped in a deflected Samuelson corner kick to put Tufts up 1-0 in the sixth minute. Claudio doubled up the Jumbo lead a mere 24 seconds later, controlling the ball at the top of the box and floating a shot over Wildcat leaping freshman keeper Karisa Durkee into the corner of the net.
The Jumbos put the nail in the coffin in the 70th minute, when Fedore was taken down in the penalty box and the Jumbos were awarded a penalty kick. Claudio, the Jumbos' resident expert on penalty kicks, ripped a shot into the lower left corner to seal the victory for Tufts.
The Jumbos find out this morning where they are playing next, but in all likelihood they will travel to SUNY-Oneonta next weekend for the Sweet-16 and Elite-8 matchups. Tufts will face off against Wheaton College, a team they beat earlier in the season, on Saturday, and the winner will face the winner of the SUNY Oneonta-Rochester match on Sunday.
