Following two key league losses to Colby and Middlebury last week, the women's lacrosse team came away with a win over NESCAC rival Connecticut College in a fast-paced, high-scoring battle on Saturday.
The Camels dominated the first ten minutes of the game, shutting down the Jumbo offense and jumping out to an early 2-0 lead. However, Tufts rallied to take the lead midway through the first half and never looked back. Four Jumbos scored multiple goals as the Jumbos held on for a 17-12 win.
Sophomore Sarah Williams contributed a career-high five goals and senior tri-captain Dena Miller, who last Tuesday became the 10th player in Tufts history to hit the 100-career goal mark, also poured in five to bring her total to a team-leading 26 on the season.
Freshman attacker Maya Shoham, who had her first career hat trick against Babson last Thursday, added another trio for the Jumbos for a total of nine goals and 11 assists on the season. Fellow freshman midfielder Chrissie Attura matched her career high as well, scoring twice.
Freshman midfielder Paige Pascarelli gave the Camels an early lead just 1:08 into the game. Both offenses were silent for the next eight minutes, but at the 20:17 mark in the first half, Conn. College scored again, as senior co-captain Kelsey Sullivan brought the Camels' lead to 2-0.
"My thoughts were, 'just score one goal and get into a rhythm'," coach Carol Rappoli said. "That took almost 13 minutes. The defense did a good job during that time. I don't think the team's morale was that they couldn't come back - they were even more determined to fight back."
The Tufts offense did just that, piling on four goals over the next six minutes to take the lead away from Conn. College. With 14:36 remaining in the half, Miller scored her first goal of the contest to give Tufts a 4-3 lead. The Jumbos would not trail again during the game.
After jumping ahead, the Jumbos continued their impressive first-half run, scoring three of the final four goals in the frame. With Tufts leading by just one, 5-4, Shoham rattled off a pair of goals, her first two of the game, to close out the half.
"I told the team it was their best job running the fast break all season," Rappoli said. "And the more break opportunities we had, it seemed the kids capitalized on most of them."
As the second half began, the Jumbos' attempts to widen their 7-4 lead were stifled. Colby's senior goalkeeper Alix Werner, alongside defenders senior Melissa Ridgway and sophomore Diana Coyne, shut the Jumbos down for the first five minutes of the frame.
Meanwhile, the Jumbos' defense was equally solid. Freshman goalkeeper Gillian Kline turned in another strong outing - 13 saves and 12 goals allowed, with a save percentage over .500 for the second consecutive outing, and only the second time all season. In front of Kline, senior tri-captain Hilary Pentz and sophomore defenders Katie Frisina and Ilena Remshifski kept the ball away from the Tufts goal.
"The defense has had to play a little short for a few games because of [junior midfielder] Lauren Murphy's injury," Rappoli said. "The kids filling in have done a very good job. Our defense is the best when everyone plays together for a while - the seven of them are really one unit."
The Camels broke the second-half deadlock when sophomore attacker Sarah Miner assisted fellow sophomore attacker Colby Tallman for her first goal, cutting the Tufts lead to 7-5 with 24:45 remaining in the game.
Two goals is as close as the Camels would come. Miller took over midway through the second half, scoring twice more to put the game out of reach. Sophomore midfielder Alyssa Corbett and sophomore attacker Bretlyn Curtis each scored once as well for the Jumbos.
For the Camels, several players turned in strong performances in the losing effort. Werner had 14 saves in net. Sullivan scored three goals, and three midfielders - senior Maggie Driscoll, sophomore Jennifer Robinson, and freshman Paige Pascarelli - each added two.
Along with Thursday's 16-6 win over Babson, the Conn College game has righted the Jumbos' ship after two nasty losses to Middlebury and Colby, both NESCAC rivals and among the nation's best, ranked second and seventh, respectively.
The Jumbos now stand at 8-2 on the season and 3-2 in NESCAC play as they prepare to take on the Wesleyan Cardinals in their next conference game. That matchup is set for Wednesday afternoon at 4:30, as Tufts returns home to Bello Field.
"This game against Conn [College] got the team back to a place close to where we played last week, against Bowdoin and Colby," Rappoli said. "Going forward, against Wesleyan, we'll just try to get a little better in each aspect of our whole game."
