After suffering its first loss of the season at the hands of Williams on March 21, the women's lacrosse team has put together two straight wins to carry it to a three-way tie at the top of the NESCAC standings. Wednesday's come-from-behind 11-10 win over conference foe Bates confirmed that the Jumbos truly belong among the conference's top teams.
Trailing 10-5 with 18:05 to go in the game, the nationally ranked No. 7 Jumbos appeared to be in trouble, but a late-game surge carried them over the top as they rattled off six straight goals to clinch their sixth victory of the season.
Junior leading scorer Emily Johnson ignited the comeback with four goals, three of which came during the six-goal barrage. Johnson's goal came at the 14:44 mark, with the assist going to classmate Jenna Abelli. Less than a minute later, Abelli notched a score of her own on a free-position shot, her second tally of the game, which brought the Jumbos to within three.
Tufts kept the pressure on with another goal less than 30 seconds later, this time coming off of the stick of senior co-captain Chrissie Attura. With the score at 10-8, Bates used its first timeout to regroup, but there was simply no stopping the Jumbo attack. Johnson scored two more goals in the closing minutes, including the game-winner at 2:07, sandwiching sophomore points leader Amanda Roberts' game-tying tally with 4:02 to go.
"It was up to [the players]," coach Carol Rappoli said. "They had to make a decision that they were going to make something happen."
Even after Johnson put the Jumbos on top for the first time in the game at 11-10, the affair was not quite over, as Jumbo sophomore goaltender Sara Bloom was called on to save the game in the closing seconds. With under 10 seconds left, Bates' leading scorer, senior tri-captain Caroline Thomas, launched one final shot from close to the cage. But Bloom was up to the task, posting her eighth save of the game to ice the win.
It was a close affair by all accounts, as both the Jumbos and Bobcats registered 25 shots on the game, and the draw controls, as well as turnovers and ground ball wins, were all nearly even. In the end, it was a slightly unorthodox strategy that helped the Jumbos prevail.
"[There was 16:21] left in the game and [senior co-captain Caroline Roma] got a yellow card, so we had to play a player short," Rappoli said. "We made a strategic change that we stuck with the rest of the game. We moved Amanda Roberts down to attack and got three goals playing down a man. It really ignited the team."
"When [Rappoli] realizes we need a flight adjustment, she'll make even a little change to reset the flow of the game," Roberts added.
After a weak start to the game that saw Tufts trailing 6-3 at the break, the Jumbos, who are usually strong starters, proved they are capable of pulling themselves together in the second half of a game, regardless of the score.
"It started with that free-position shot by [Abelli] ... and then we realized we could come back," Johnson said. "We proved we can finish strong."
"We were all a little shaken up when we looked up at the board and saw that it was 10-5," Roberts said. "But one of the key components to this team is that we play with composure even if we've lost it for a little."
The Bobcats got ahead early in the game, scoring two goals before the Jumbos got on the board at 20:13 with Roberts' first goal of the game. The teams then traded goals before the Bobcats pulled ahead. The Jumbos were clearly struggling in the opening frame, turning the ball over 18 times before the break.
"We couldn't catch and throw, and our transitions were bad," Johnson said. "We turned the ball over a lot."
With the score 6-3 in Bates' favor at the start of the second half, the teams continued to trade goals for the first 10 minutes before the Bobcats strung together two goals to take the 10-5 lead. But that was the last time the Bobcats would score, as the Jumbos then began their run.
With five players contributing to the scoring and six registering assists, Tufts displayed just how deep and multidimensional a team it has this season.
"It's awesome that we have so many players ... that can just dominate," Roberts said. "I can't imagine what a scouting report would look like for this team because it must have every player on it. It throws other teams off because they don't really know what to expect."
