After injuries turned 2008 into a lost season for Tufts, the Jumbos were hoping to kick-start their 2009 campaign at Middlebury on Saturday. But the season ultimately started the same way things ended last year — with a frustrating overtime loss.
Tufts gave the host Panthers, ranked sixth in New England in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Regional poll, all they could handle up until the first minute of overtime, when a quick goal sent the Jumbos back to Medford with a 2-1 loss in tow.
"The general statement that everyone has been saying is that starting a season off with such a good team is a challenge in and of itself, but we played so well and organized," senior goalkeeper Kate Minnehan said. "Everyone is bummed to lose in overtime, but I think we came out with a positive attitude that if this is how we start, we will only go up from here."
Middlebury controlled the overtime kick off and immediately took it down into the Tufts box, where Panthers freshman Amy Schlueter found junior Annie Rowell on the right side. Rowell played the hero by turning and firing a shot from 18 yards out that found the far side of the net and gave her team the win.
"I don't really know what happened," Minnehan said. "We looked good; it just must have been a miscommunication. A ball got played through and it was a breakaway. It just caught us by surprise, and it was a great ball through."
The goal, which was scored just 57 seconds into extra time, ended a hard-fought effort for the Jumbos. After falling behind early when Rowell assisted Middlebury senior Paola Cabonargi for the game's first goal, the Jumbos battled back to tie the game in the 30th minute. Junior defender Sarah Nolet continued her legacy of offensive might from last season ?" when she was first team All NESCAC and led the Jumbo squad in shots ?" by blazing a 25-yard free kick into the back of the net from the left wing to knot things up at one and give Tufts its first goal of the year.
"I think one thing that we had trouble with at the beginning was when they scored fairly early," Minnehan said. "People were just taken aback all of a sudden, and the momentum totally changed. It was like, ‘What are we going to do now?' It took a while to come back, but then people realized we can do this and we ended up scoring, so the game completely changed from there."
Both team's offenses had their moments to put the game away, but neither side could put on the finishing touches to convert shot opportunities into scoreboard tallies. The Jumbos peppered Middlebury's junior goalkeeper Lauryn Torch with shots all afternoon, but they found that she was up to the task. She stoned Tufts on two opportunities in the 15th minute and kept the Jumbos off the board in the second half. The one time the Jumbos seemed to have the junior out of position, a Panthers defender was in the right place at the right time to block a surefire goal.
"We had a bunch of different chances," senior co-captain forward Cara Cadigan said. "We put the ball where we needed to and we just couldn't get it in. I think that the girl [Torch] played the game of her life, because we hit the ball exactly where we needed to be and somehow she just got to it every time."
Middlebury thought it had taken the lead in the 63rd minute, but it was whistled for one of three offsides calls on the day. That allowed the Jumbos to stay in the game and kept the score locked at one. But even though the Jumbos finished regulation with the edge in shots 17-15, they could not get anything more than the one goal past Torch, who finished with nine saves in the game.
Tufts had visions of replicating its start from last season, when the team won its first five games in shutouts. Instead, the Jumbos now will be forced to quickly regroup as they head into their home opener and first non-conference clash of the season versus Keene State (4-1) on Tuesday. But the team can still take some positives from its first game.
"We clearly dominated possession for a majority of the game," Minnehan said. "Middlebury is always good, and they have big solid girls who can just play through us. But I think we did a really good job of dominating possession, playing to feet, and you could see people making good runs and playing good balls even though they weren't always coming together.
"That is something that I think we are going to work on from now on," she continued. "It is good to see all these good ideas, but we just have to put them together."
The Owls, ranked 10th in New England, have the advantage of already having five games under their belt. With a 4-1 record so far this season, Keene will test Tufts on defense in particular, as the Owls have scored five or more goals in three of those games.
"We feel good going into the next game," Cadigan said. "Our goal is going to be to score early, because we don't want to have to come from behind. We are completely confident in our playing ability; we just need to get the job done early."
