The field hockey team lost a big game last weekend, a 2-1 loss to Amherst that was hard to explain. That's the thing about NESCAC Saturdays, though; the next one is just seven days away.
A win on Saturday over league rival Bates (4-2-1, 2-2 NESCAC) would buoy the Jumbos' league record to 4-2 overall (3-1 NESCAC). It would also prevent a dangerous midseason slip; a loss against the Bobcats would send the Jumbos into likely their toughest game of the year - a Homecoming matchup against Bowdoin, the top team in the league and the No. 3 team in the country - on an 0-2 conference slide.
"When we only play [nine] NESCAC games, obviously each one matters a lot," senior co-captain Katie Pagos said. "The Middlebury win [on Sept. 15] was huge, but it's behind us."
Ahead are the Bobcats, whom the Jumbos will play on Saturday in Lewiston, Maine. Since the NESCAC schedule began in 2000, Bates has finished last in the league three times and ninth two other years. Yet its last two meetings with the Jumbos have been close, during otherwise unimpressive seasons for the Bobcats.
"I think it will be a good matchup," coach Tina McDavitt said. "For some reason, it's always tight with Bates."
Last season, the Bobcats were the Jumbos' Homecoming guests and nearly ruined the festivities. The Jumbos had 22 shots and 27 penalty corners, but managed only a single goal.
After two scoreless overtimes, the Jumbos finally won in strokes, but an inability to finish around the cage nearly cost them a Homecoming win. Coming off the lackluster offensive conversion in their loss to the Lord Jeffs on Saturday - just one goal off 19 shots and 21 corners - the Jumbos are focused on putting away their chances in front of the cage.
"It's reassuring to know that we have the potential to be getting so many shots and be dominating games, but it's about finishing it to the end and proving that we can score," senior co-captain Ileana Casellas-Katz said.
Casellas-Katz said that corners - in which the Jumbos were 1-for-21 last week and 0-for-27 last year against Bates - are a priority on Saturday. The team has worked in practice this week to refine their corner plays.
"Corners are huge opportunities for us," she said. "Everyone that touches the ball in the circle should feel like they're going to score. We've been working on that a lot, building sense of urgency and hunger and priority in the circle."
McDavitt scouted the Bobcats at their game against Bowdoin last Tuesday. While the matchup doubled as a chance to see the fearsome Polar Bears, whom the Jumbos will face a week from Saturday, it was first things first.
"It was hard to get a good sense of [Bates] because Bowdoin was really dominating," she said. "But they're good.
"They have a center back who has a really strong hit," she continued, referring to Samantha Rothkopf, a sophomore center back with a big stick. "She's good in the backfield."
But that backfield has yet to record a shutout this season, good news for a Tufts offense that has yet to be shut out. Freshman goalkeeper Kate McEnroe has taken the majority of the minutes among the team's three listed netminders, and her 8.80 saves per game, second-most among league goalies, suggests that Saturday may be ripe for another Jumbo shoot-out.
Offensively, the Bobcats have been at their most dangerous on penalty corners. Three of their goals against the Lord Jeffs came off corners and make up the bulk of their five successful corner attempts this year.
"One of the coaches [that played them] told me, just don't give them any corners," McDavitt said. "They take a lot of hard, direct shots on corners, and they're very fast at getting the ball out and getting a shot off."
Half of the eight goals the Jumbos have allowed this year have come on penalty corners, so limiting the Bobcats' chances with smart circle play and getting out quickly on the corners they do get, will be priorities. Junior Brittany Holiday is the team's primary fly, the first one out of the box and zeroed in on the girl with the ball, and her speed off the line will be an asset.
"We will just be working on getting our fly out there early and breaking down her steps, then getting the ball off our goalkeeper's pads if they are getting their shots off," McDavitt said.
With a win tomorrow, last weekend's frustrating loss to Amherst is just a bump in the road to another top-tier NESCAC finish. A loss, however, would send the Jumbos up against the undefeated and offense-heavy Bowdoin on an 0-3 conference slide.
"We just have to bounce back [from the Amherst game]," Pagos said. "The same thing happened with [our Sept. 12 loss to] Wellesley; we picked it up and beat Middlebury that weekend. It's a reality check and it's good for us every now and then."
