Although the field hockey team fell to the Bowdoin Polar Bears on Sunday at Bello Field, an at-large NCAA Tournament bid has possibly paved the road to redemption for the championship-minded Jumbos.
If receiving an NCAA Tournament bid didn't lift their spirits after the NESCAC championship loss, a first-round bye and home-field advantage for the second and third rounds at least gave the Jumbos a reason to never say "die."
But in an unprecedented turn of events, the 24-team tournament features three other rivals from the NESCAC in Bowdoin, Middlebury and Trinity, a testament to the depth of the conference and the dominance its teams demonstrated this season.
"We now have our teams at the top of the nation's rankings in terms of our strengths of schedule, and we're not losing any other games," Middlebury coach Katharine DeLorenzo said. "Middlebury, Tufts and Bowdoin have only lost to each other, and Trinity and Tufts have the wins over Bowdoin, as well. Nobody is unbeaten, but we've only lost to each other."
"I think the trickle-down effect has just [created] a much higher-quality profile for all of the NESCAC teams, especially those of us who have been lucky enough to be at the top of NESCAC," DeLorenzo continued. "There are just no extraneous losses in there ... There are no very easy games on any of our schedules."
The Jumbos, as well as the rest of the NESCAC teams, will now meet their strongest non-conference opponents to date, many coming from a mid-Atlantic region that boasts a history of field hockey dominance. While Tufts will first face the winner of today's game between Springfield (15-6) and Keene State (18-5), further along, assuming the Jumbos advance, will probably be the likes of the College of New Jersey (TCNJ) (15-2), a former national No. 1, as well as current No. 1 Messiah (14-1).
If it continues, Tufts' uncharacteristically muddled offensive play in penalty corner opportunities in the NESCAC Tournament might prove detrimental against teams like TCNJ and Messiah, which have drawn 262 and 239 penalty corners, respectively, this season, compared to Tufts' 222. The Jumbos are hoping their bye should give them the much-needed time to regroup after a 0-41 showing on corners this weekend.
"Corners, corners, corners: That is what we need to work on," Tufts coach Tina McDavitt said. "We need to rest. We were very tired Sunday and we need to focus on just getting rest this week ... We are going to watch video of past games, and Friday we will have a one-hour practice. It is going to be a slow week, focusing on fine-tuning parts of our game."
As for the traditional NESCAC heavyweights, defending national champion Bowdoin and runner-up Middlebury may find themselves squaring off again this year. Both squads also received first-round byes and may go head-to-head in a third-round clash for a spot in the national semifinals.
"I think that we always bring out the best in each other," DeLorenzo said of Bowdoin, who sunk the Panthers 4-0 in Saturday's semifinal matchup. "I think we certainly were outplayed in our defensive circle just in terms of getting to the ball and playing through the finish of the play. We didn't finish our job on our end on that end of the field. That's something we'll have to improve on regardless of who we're playing, and certainly it's going to be critical if we're fortunate enough to face Bowdoin again."
Still, the Panthers, ranked No. 6 in the nation, may face in the second round an impressive No. 7 Lebanon Valley College squad that narrowly lost in the regular season to Messiah, reached the Final Four in 2007 and has strong scorers notching as many as 29 goals on the season.
The No. 9 Trinity Bantams, the only NESCAC team not to secure a first-round bye, has a good chance of advancing to the second round, but formidable opponents stand in their way to a possible spot in the Final Four. After today's first-round game, Trinity may cross sticks with No. 10 Rowan (14-4) on Saturday and possibly Messiah in the third round on Sunday. While the Rowan matchup would likely be a game of back-and-forth possession, Messiah's offense, boasting five players notching over 10 goals on the season, may be enough to end Trinity's run to the championship before the possibility of facing Tufts in the Final Four.
"It's great that Trinity got a bid," senior tri-captain Tess Jasinski said. "I'm excited to [potentially] play them again."
As the 16-1 Jumbos mark their second consecutive NCAA appearance and the fourth in program history, this year's squad is determined to not repeat last season's second-round elimination courtesy of Salisbury.
While it would not have the chance to face No. 8 Salisbury until the finals, the Tufts squad feels that it has matured over the past year and that its NESCAC regular season performance showcased its thirst for Tufts' first ever national team championship. The combination of the first-round bye, home-field advantage through the third round and unprecedented regular season success may be all the Jumbos need to pull off a long-awaited victory.
"Our own game plan is to stick to what we have refined during practice," senior tri-captain Brittany Holiday said. "If we try to adjust to other styles of play, we can fall apart. Our focus is to be effective by playing to our own strategy. Right now, it's just about learning from mistakes we've made in past games and improving on our skills. We can't wait to play Saturday."
Sapna Bansil contributed reporting to this article.
