After last Saturday's devastating 2-1 overtime loss to the Trinity Bantams, the Tufts field hockey team was forced to go back to the drawing board. In Wednesday's 9-0 road win against the Gordon College Fighting Scots, the Jumbos proved that taking a step back made all the difference.
"I think Saturday was a huge disappointment," junior midfielder Tamara Brown said. "It was a wake-up call for our team, and it has definitely lit a fire under us as we head into the last couple games of the season.
"[Coach] Tina [McDavitt] reminded us that we should be going out there and having fun and be excited every time we score," Brown continued. "That one game on Saturday doesn't define our season. We had fun against Gordon, and it reflected in the way we played in a big way."
In a relentless offensive effort, the Jumbos wasted no time attacking Gordon's circle, firing off 19 shots in the first half alone. Only 53 seconds into the match, Tufts was on the board, thanks to a Brown goal off a feed from junior forward Michelle Kelly. While six different players hit the back of the net for the Jumbos, senior co-captain Amanda Russo came up particularly big, logging her first hat trick of the season, and becoming the third Jumbo in the past month to record three goals in a game. Earlier in the month, Brown and junior forward Melissa Burke each notched a hat trick in the conference match against Colby Mules. Blowing out the Fighting Scots 19-1 in shots and heading into halftime with a 5-0 lead, the Tufts squad showed its depth of talent to take the non-conference victory.
"We've worked on two-touch passing, transferring the ball, shooting and rebounding, so I think we've refined our skills in some areas that weren't well-executed against Trinity," senior co-captain Margi Scholtes said. "We went back to basics. We kept to our fundamentals, took a step back, slowed down and [kept] our heads on our shoulders."
In the second frame, the Jumbos continued to control the pace of the game, finding the back of the net four times in the midst of a flurry of shot opportunities. While Russo completed the hat trick with two goals, Scholtes capitalized on a penalty stroke play for the second time this season.
Putting the icing on the cake, the Tufts squad showcased the talents of its underclassmen, with first-year midfielder Rachel Gerhardt and sophomore midfielder Dana Aidekman teaming up to tally Tufts' final goal of the match. In all, the Jumbos' nine goals were enough to raise the team's total to the second-best in the history of the program. Compiling 56 on the year, this year's Jumbos are overshadowed only by their all-time record of 82 goals scored during the 2008 season.
Defensively, both teams had success in shutting down offensive drives. In the Tufts backfield, sophomore keeper Marianna Zak and junior Katie Hyder shared the win, with Zak making the only save of the day on Gordon's single shot in 70 minutes of play.
In the cage for the Fighting Scots, sophomore Alicia L'Heureux racked up 15 saves over the course of the match on Tufts' 38 shots. Overall, however, it was the Gordon defenders that played the biggest role in breaking up the Jumbos' offensive drives.
"Defensively, Gordon had strong block tackles, so we had to adjust and lift the ball over their sticks," Scholtes said. "We had to keep the ball moving to work around the defenders to get into the circle; we couldn't just dribble through them."
Despite holding an 11-1 record overall, with just a single loss in conference play, the national coaches poll dropped Tufts two spots to No. 5 after its overtime loss to the undefeated Bantams. Though Tufts fell in the rankings to its lowest position all season, the Jumbo squad is still one of just three NESCAC teams among the top 10 in the nation.
"We've come to learn that the poll isn't the best indicator of a team's talent," Brown said. "If anything, I think our team feels a sense of relief going into the postseason that we don't have to try and prove anything; we just need to go out on the field and play our best. That wouldn't necessarily be the case if we were going into the tournament undefeated."
After recording their fourth consecutive shutout over Gordon and sixth consecutive victory over the Fighting Scots overall, the Jumbos turn their attention to NESCAC competition on the horizon. This Saturday, the No. 2 NESCAC team will be on display at Bello Field against the No. 3 Williams Ephs.
While Tufts has beaten Williams each year since 2006, the Ephs seem to be enjoying a stronger season than in past years. With a 5-2 record in-conference, Williams has fallen only to Bowdoin and Trinity, both of which are among the stronger teams in the nation. However, after learning lessons from the Trinity match, the Tufts squad is ready to cross sticks with strong conference opponents once again.
"Williams is having a great season," Brown said. "They're one of the stronger teams in the NESCAC, and we learned last week we have to play our best to beat the better teams in conference. We'll be ready, but we're going to have to come out playing our best."
