The Tufts women's soccer team was involved in another close conference game on Saturday — but this time it came out on the winning side.
The Jumbos scored the only goal of the game just 32 seconds in, earning their first NESCAC win 1-0 over the Wesleyan Cardinals in Middletown, Conn. Tufts' first road victory and its third win in the last four games brought the team's season record above .500 to 3-2.
"I think we are really excited to carry this momentum into the rest of the season," junior defender Sarah Nolet said. "I don't think any of us are really surprised, because we have been putting in a lot of work. We weren't too put off by our losses because we know we are a good team, and I think that win just confirmed that."
The Jumbos continued their mastery of the Cardinals with Saturday's win. Tufts has beaten Wesleyan each of the last four seasons and in nine of the last 10 games between the two teams. Wesleyan again proved to be no match for a Jumbos team that is playing with more composure than it did at the beginning of the season.
"I think going into the games and through all the games we have improved our focus and our mental preparation," senior goalkeeper Kate Minnehan said. "Sometimes we get discouraged when we get scored on or things aren't going well, but I think we can stay focused and focus on ourselves and what we can do better."
It did not take long for the Jumbos to get on the board, mostly thanks to a miscue on defense by the Cardinals in the first minute. Wesleyan could not clear the ball out of its half, which let Tufts senior co-captain Whitney Hardy take control of the ball near the top of the box. With Wesleyan sophomore keeper Clare Colton out of position, Hardy had an open net and scored her first goal of the year.
"It was really exciting," Nolet said. "I don't think we have scored that early in a couple years, at least as long as I have been here. We have not even scored that often in the first 20 minutes or so. That has been one of our goals for the season, to come out hard."
The quick score came against a Cardinals defense that had been extremely tight in its last few games. Wesleyan had recorded three straight shutouts heading into Saturday's contest and would have set a program mark for consecutive minutes without allowing a goal if it could have held Tufts scoreless into the 72nd minute. But any hope of setting that mark was quickly lost thanks to Hardy.
Tufts would keep piling on the pressure for most of the first half, continuing the aggressive nature of play it had exhibited in scoring two goals in the second half in its 2-0 upset of Wheaton on Wednesday. The Jumbos outshot the hosts eight to three in the first half, although they only managed to put three of their own shots on net.
"It was frustrating that the rest of the game we had some chances and couldn't finish," Nolet said. "So that is something we know he have to work on from here on out: capitalizing on our chances."
The second half was something of a role reversal, as the Cardinals worked furiously to get on the board and knot the game up at one. Wesleyan put up nine shots, but Tufts defense and Minnehan withstood the barrage and shut down a Cardinals offense that had scored 13 goals in its last three games.
It was the third shutout of the season for the Tufts netminder, with all three coming in as Tufts wins. The performance was particularly impressive given that Minnehan was forced to make six stops on the day, and that Wesleyan had come into the contest averaging over three goals a game.
"Defense has been our most consistent area within the whole season because everyone that was coming back is a returning starter," Minnehan said. "Now we know not only how each other plays but also each other's personalities, so we know what motivates and helps everyone and we have focused on that."
The Jumbos are now in a logjam in the middle of the NESCAC but could be looking to leapfrog some teams with their recent string of strong play. Tufts will be faced with another non-conference test on Tuesday when they visit the Babson Beavers, the sixth-ranked team in the region. The team will then look to secure its second straight NESCAC win at Bates next weekend and even its conference record at 2-2.
"I think we have been playing the same the whole time," Nolet said. "We played really hard games — Amherst and Middlebury are both very good. I think we are just learning and putting things together."
"We are hoping to peak at the right time," she continued. "We are glad we aren't going to peak too early, and we are glad we got the opportunity to learn some of the things we had to work on."
