It was a year filled with adversity for the women's soccer team. A season that started out with great expectations — including hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season — but was derailed by injuries came to an end Sunday, when the Jumbos fell 4-2 on penalty kicks to Bowdoin after playing to a 0-0 stalemate in a dismal first round of the NESCAC Tournament.
Indeed, despite winning six of its first seven games, the squad managed only two wins across its final seven matches to finish the 2008 campaign 5-4 in the NESCAC and 8-5-1 overall.
Tufts started the season on a tear, winning its first five games without giving up a single goal, and the team was ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation by Sept. 29, when sophomore defender Sarah Nolet won NESCAC Player of the Week honors.
But the undefeated record and shutout streak ended Oct. 4 when the Jumbos were upset 3-1 by the Amherst Lord Jeffs. Then the injuries started to pile up, and Tufts was forced to test the depth of its roster for the rest of the season.
"We learned that you just have to move on even when you come up against adversity," coach Martha Whiting said. "Since we couldn't necessarily change what happened — we couldn't change the injuries — we had to keep fighting and keep working hard. That's one thing that the girls definitely did, they never gave up and always came out fighting every time."
Junior tri-captain Cara Cadigan, who won last year's NESCAC Rookie of the Year and set the program's single-season scoring record, suffered a season-ending ACL injury Oct. 7 against Brandeis. The Jumbos still managed to pull out a victory, 1-0, but coming up with wins after beating the Judges would not be easy.
During the Oct. 11 game at Middlebury, junior goalie Kate Minnehan became the second Jumbo to go down with a season-ending injury. She was replaced by sophomore Hannah Jacobs, but Jacobs also suffered an injury and left the game, forcing senior tri-captain Maya Shoham, a midfielder, to fill the void between the posts. The Jumbos lost the game 3-1, dropping their record to 6-2.
"I have been the backup to the backup goalie on the team since freshman year," Shoham said. "I never thought I would get any time, but I've trained in goal before, so it wasn't a complete shot in the dark. It was nerve-wracking, but I was just trying to step up for my team and be there when they needed me.
"We never gave up when we were faced with so much adversity," she continued. "There were a ton of injuries — at one point we barely had enough players healthy to field a team — and we still managed to win games and compete with very good teams. We had injuries to very key players in key positions, so it was hard, but our team never gave up."
The Middlebury loss was followed by a high-scoring non-conference game at Keene State, which the Jumbos limped into and surrendered 5-4. Having dropped two straight, Tufts next hosted national No. 1 Williams. Although the Jumbos outshot the Ephs 13-6, they were unable to score and lost the game 1-0.
"The Williams game, although we lost, was probably our best game of the year," Whiting said. "We played like a team that was hungry and that worked together, and it was a really good game."
Going in to the final game of the season Oct. 31 at Bowdoin, Tufts sported a 4-4 league record and needed a win to earn the fourth seed in the NESCAC Tournament and host the opening-round game. They did just that, downing the Polar Bears 2-1 to bring their playoff game to Kraft Field in what would be a rematch against Bowdoin.
However, a repeat win was not in the cards this time, as the game remained scoreless through regulation and double overtime. For the second straight season, Tufts fell in penalty kicks 4-2 to the Polar Bears and was eliminated from the tournament. But despite the disappointment of their first-round exit, the Jumbos remain optimistic about the future.
"We're very excited for next year," Whiting said. "We've got the bulk of our team coming back, and our team this year was young, so next season everybody will have that year of experience under their belt and will be more mature and more experienced. I'm really excited."
And despite the threat posed by injuries this season, Whiting said that the squad remained resolute throughout the difficult times the squad faced.
"In a season where you have so much adversity, the girls made me proud to come out to the field every day because of the way they work and the way they challenge each other," Whiting said. "Their dedication is unrivaled. For me, I'm just so proud of everything that they did on a daily basis."
