Michelle Kelly, Field Hockey
Junior forward Michelle Kelly was the leader of the Jumbo offense in a major weekend for the field hockey team, coming up big in key situations in a pair of games and scoring a total of three goals.
During No. 4 Tufts' historic road win over No. 1 Bowdoin Friday, Kelly's two goals provided half of the Jumbo offense in the squad's 4-3 upset win over the defending national champions. Kelly scored twice for Tufts, both times adding padding to a one-goal lead. Up until that game, Bowdoin had given up two goals to an entire team just once this season.
Her first-half goal, which came at the 31:03 mark off an assist from sophomore forward Tamara Brown, widened a 2-1 Tufts lead to 3-1, and when the Bears drew closer before halftime, Kelly pulled the Jumbos away again. An unassisted goal at the 47:22 mark was all the insurance the Jumbos would need.
In Tufts' first-round playoff win over Colby, a Kelly goal gave the Jumbos the lead for good along the way to a 5-1 win. With the game tied 1-1 at the 29:12 mark in the first half, Kelly took a pass from senior tri-captain Tess Jasinski and put the team ahead 2-1. From there, Tufts ran away with the win in the second half.
Kelly is now the Jumbos' third-leading scorer with 13 goals and two assists for 28 total points.
Jesse Faller, Men's Cross Country
Junior Jesse Faller finished third among 119 runners at the 2008 NESCAC Men's Cross Country Championship hosted by Bates at Pineland Farms Saturday. Faller finished with a time of 25:43 but was edged out by one second for the runner-up position by junior Edgar Kosgey of Williams. Nevertheless, his score led the Jumbos to fourth place among 11 conference teams at the event with 129 points. Tufts finished well behind third-place Amherst (93 points) but only barely trumped fifth-place Conn. College (130).
Faller has developed into one of the top runners in the NESCAC, as he was the first Div. III finisher at the Open New England Championships three weeks ago. His other accomplishments this year include winning the 41st annual Codfish Bowl held at Franklin Park in Boston and taking fourth place overall among 148 runners at the Trinity Invitational to start the season.
Last year, Faller took 12th place at NESCACs before turning in a third-place performance at the NCAA New England Championship. He was the only member of the team to earn All-American honors, finishing 18th at the NCAA Championship in Minnesota.
This year, the Jumbos hope that Faller will continue to perform well in the late-season races, as the success of the team hinges greatly upon his performances.
