After 19 contests across 11 weeks of play, it all comes down to this: one weekend, one bracket of semifinalists and one goal -- namely, winning a national title.
The field hockey team will make history tomorrow by becoming the first team in program history to reach the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament -- just one game away from the national championship.
But birds of prey await the Jumbos in Collegeville, Penn.
Tufts (18-1 overall) will face off against the nationally ranked No. 1 Messiah Falcons (17-1) at Ursinus College this weekend for a chance to go to the championship game on Sunday. While the Jumbos have added to a record-breaking season with their first-ever ascendance to the Final Four, the Falcons will be making their 12th appearance on the national semifinal stage. Once more, Messiah has enjoyed a first-place ranking in the national poll since Nov. 4, though Tufts was just two points shy in second place in those same rankings.
"I don't care about the national poll," coach Tina McDavitt said. "I don't think it really means anything -- it's very political. Because [Messiah] has the experience of having been to the NCAA championship and making it into the Final Four before, I guess we're an underdog in terms of the longevity of making it to the tournament. However, I don't think that we are at all the underdog in terms of our skill or talent."
The national poll has had Tufts in the top 10 since late September, when the team was 5-0, and moved the Jumbos into the No. 2 position after they completed their undefeated regular season with a victory over then-No. 1 Bowdoin. In the final poll, Tufts ranked fourth in the nation.
The Jumbos' march to the top was marked by regular-season dominance over ranked NESCAC teams like Middlebury and Trinity -- which were among the 20 teams to earn bids to the NCAA tourney -- and Final Four contestant Bowdoin, but Messiah has enjoyed similar success. During the regular season, the Falcons defeated Salisbury, The College of New Jersey and the tournament-hosting Ursinus Golden Bears. Nevertheless, Messiah just squeaked past nationally ranked No. 11 Rowan last weekend with a 2-1 win in double overtime in the national quarterfinals; Rowan was the only team that had handed Messiah a regular-season loss.
"As a team, we got frustrated that after we beat Bowdoin and after we beat Middlebury, we were never able to break into first place," sophomore midfielder Tamara Brown said. "But it's also given us extra incentive, and I think we found we did get the respect we deserved when the NCAA gave us an at-large bid and a first-round bye and home-field advantage. Messiah may be ranked No. 1, but that doesn't mean anything when you're on the field playing and it's your final shot at a championship."
As Messiah faced dead-heat opposition in the third round, Tufts also narrowly eliminated its opposition, the nine-time champion TCNJ Lions, in the Jumbos' 2-1 NCAA quarterfinal victory. The Lions outshot and out-cornered the Jumbos during the match, with Tufts putting up just 11 shots, a far cry from the 24.4 per game they have been averaging this year. Likewise, Messiah's was a hard-fought, defensively oriented game in which Rowan held the Falcons' top three scorers to seven shots and outshot them overall too.
The Tufts squad has stressed consistency in its game play as it moves deeper into the tournament and faces greater chances of elimination against better teams.
"After our game against Bowdoin [in the regular season], we've learned to play more consistently throughout the entire 70 minutes," Brown said. "In that game, we fell in the first five minutes, and after that we turned around, played smarter and came from behind and won. Against Messiah, against Ursinus and against Bowdoin, we have to step up with everyone from the forwards to the defenders being ready to play defense. We talked a lot about just laying it all out on the field because no matter what, this is our last weekend of the season."
So far, the Jumbos aren't letting any polls hold back their drive on the road to the national title. This week, the National Field Hockey Coaches Association named Brown, senior tri-captain Brittany Holiday, sophomore Amanda Roberts and junior Margi Scholtes to the All-New England West Region First Team. The most-represented school on the roster, Tufts' depth may be the difference in defeating Messiah, a team with five players scoring 12 or more goals on the season. Unlike the opposition, Tufts has many scoring options, and with a season hanging in the balance, the Jumbos plan on leaving everything out on the field.
"It is a huge honor [to be named to the First Team]," Brown said. "It reflects more on our team than on our individual successes this season. I would never have been able to make the list if I had not had the support of a strong forward line, smart midfielders and an aggressive defensive line. None of us could have reached where we are today on our own."
"We couldn't be more excited to be going to the Final Four," junior Amanda Russo said. "We're not thinking to the championship, but we're 50 percent of the way there."
