It didn't take long for the women's lacrosse team to bounce back from its loss to Amherst on Saturday. On the road on Tuesday, the nationally ranked No. 13 Jumbos unleashed an offensive barrage on the Wellesley Blue, notching their first win 13-5. After going down by one on a goal from Wellesley senior attacker Molly Morrow in the first 26 seconds, the Jumbos scored eight unanswered goals to dash any hopes the Blue had for an upset.
"On offense, we were just much more controlled and relaxed than on Saturday," sophomore midfielder Casey Egan said. "Instead of trying to force on fast breaks, we took our time and settled the ball. We were able to eliminate small mistakes as we got our confidence back, and it showed in our execution. It was just a cleaner game offensively."
Senior co-captain Jenna Abelli started Tufts' scoring just over a minute after Morrow on an unassisted tally. In the next eight minutes, Egan would register a hat trick, and senior attacker Emily Johnson would net two goals of her own. Sophomore midfielder Steph Perez and classmate attacker Lara Kozin would each add one before the Jumbos sent a battered Blue to the bench down 8-1.
But, in a replay of the beginning of the game, Wellesley scored first after the break and put Tufts briefly on its heels. Egan answered with her fourth goal of the game while Abelli stretched the lead to eight. Then, back-to-back goals from Wellesley's junior attacker Jenny Holland cut the spread to six for as many scoreless minutes, but Perez, Abelli and Johnson each added one more score in a span of less than four minutes, and Tufts was able to empty the bench and win going away.
Overall, the game showed marked improvements on both sides of the ball since Saturday. Offensively, the Jumbos outshot the Blue 27-15 and went two-for-three from the free position line, a significant improvement from their one-for-four mark over the weekend. On defense, Tufts more than doubled its ground ball total, picking up 28 compared to Saturday's 13. The defensive unit also caused 23 turnovers on the day and effectively thwarted two man-down opportunities, allowing junior netminder Sara Bloom to be relatively untested, as she recorded six saves in goal.
"Our communication was a lot better on our defensive end," sophomore midfielder Emily Pillemer said. "It makes a big difference in our zone when we're aware of where each other are. We got more people involved in the plays on attack and in the midfield, too, eliminating one-on-ones against ourselves. We were really able to shut them down as a team."
Despite the positives from this win, a real test awaits the Jumbos on Saturday in the defending NESCAC champion and nationally ranked No. 8 Colby. And while the team finally delivered on its offensive potential, Tufts will have to improve its stats in almost every category to recreate the 13-9 win over the Mules it registered last season.
Still notably lacking at either end of the field for the Jumbos is a sense of cohesion. The defensive breakdowns in the midfield that gave up fast breaks in the beginning of both periods on Tuesday could be exploited by a fast Mules squad, and unassisted goals will be harder to come by as Colby's defense — which led the conference in caused turnovers in 2009 — will challenge drives to the net. However, despite Colby's lead in the rankings, the Mules are without 2009 Player of the Year Kate Sheridan, who graduated. And, with a rivalry that includes five one-goal games in the last seven years, it's really anyone's game.
"We're in good shape for Saturday, I feel," Egan said. "But we need to practice our plays a little bit more and work on our shot accuracy. We're trying to work on our fluidity on offense — work more as a team to find open cutters. We want to try for more unassisted goals instead of one-on-ones."
"We're all just excited," Pillemer added. "We've put in a lot of work over the last few weeks, and it's starting to show more and more. We're really not thinking about the rankings, just confident and ready to get our first NESCAC win."
