The national No. 5 field hockey team over the weekend solidified its place atop the NESCAC with a 1−0 win over No. 4 Bowdoin in the regular season finale on Friday and a 4−1 trampling of Bates in the conference quarterfinals yesterday. In both games, the Jumbos dominated throughout and left the field with their heads held high, confident in their ability to capture the league crown.
Yesterday, the eighth−seeded Bobcats came to Bello Field for a chance to upset the No. 1−seeded Jumbos. It wasn't in the cards, however, and Tufts walked away with a ticket to a semifinal matchup with the only team that has defeated it in 2010: Trinity. And, with hosting duties a perk of the victory over Bowdoin, Tufts will get to defend its NESCAC title at home.
Senior forward Tamara Brown led Tufts against Bates, registering the eighth hat trick of her career and her third of the season. Brown started the scoring 10 minutes into the game when classmate and co−captain Amanda Roberts shook her defenders to find the open lane to Brown waiting in front of the net. The shot blew past Bates senior keeper Katie McEnroe, and the Jumbos never looked back.
"A lot of times it's about breaking the seal and just getting one in," Brown said. "It's a pattern we've seen that we get one and then we get a couple. … I think we have an attitude in the circle of never being satisfied with just one goal. Their goalie was probably one of their strongest players and we knew that going into the game, so we wanted to keep taking shots to get her off her game a little bit."
The Jumbos continued to pressure McEnroe as they rattled off a series of near−misses in the next eight minutes. Then, at the 2:00 mark, Brown broke through unassisted. Her goal was followed by junior Lindsay Griffith in the last four seconds of the half, when Griffith notched the team's third tally after a loose ball emerged from a scrum in front of the goal. She reacted with a quick shot while McEnroe was on the ground protecting the right side of the cage.
Three minutes past the break, sophomore Lia Sagerman found her way to an open shot and wound up to crush a shot into McEnroe's pads. After collecting her own rebound, Sagerman slid the ball right to Brown, who didn't waste the opportunity to put Tufts up 4−0. Head coach Tina McDavitt subsequently began to empty the bench.
With the reserves in play, Bates gained some momentum and eventually got on the board in the last 20 minutes. But the defense and junior goalie Marianna Zak continued to protect Tufts' lead, allowing just three shots on goal and three penalty corners while the offense compiled 27 and 10, respectively.
"I think a big thing that we talk a lot about is how a team can come off a really big win and can sometimes go down a level of play," Brown said. "I think coming off such a big win on Friday over Bowdoin, we wanted to make sure that didn't happen. I think there were definitely things we could've done better, but we did what we needed to do to get the win."
Friday night's win against Bowdoin was a different story, though. The match was a low−scoring affair between two defensive powerhouses that was won and lost between the 25−yard lines.
The only goal of the game was in the 16th minute of play as senior forward Melissa Burke assisted Brown for the eventual game−winner.
"I think we knew it was going to be a very defensive game and needed to take advantage of what opportunities we did have in the circle," Brown said. "And I think we only had eight shots in the game, so it was huge to take advantage of each of those."
Bowdoin's commitment to defense showed throughout the game as Tufts' momentum continued to be stifled outside the striking circle. But the Polar Bears' offense did not react well to playing from behind for the first time all season. Their offense would only challenge Zak once — in the minute following the Jumbos' tally — and the lone shot on goal was handled skillfully and quickly transitioned into a Jumbo fast break.
"We had definitely been working all week on defending Bowdoin's style of play because they use a lot of big balls," junior defender Taylor Dyer said. "And Friday was the first game of the season that we really felt that we clicked as a team as a whole and more specifically as a defensive unit for the full 70 minutes. I think it came down to us doing a good job of preserving our lead, and that's what we were working towards all season."
In the second half, Tufts remained in control as Griffith, Roberts and the rest of the attack challenged senior Emily Neilson in goal on several occasions while Dyer and the defense saw but one blocked outside shot. Neilson would go on to make two saves in the final eight minutes, keeping Tufts' small, but largely unchallenged, lead intact. And as the buzzer sounded, the Jumbos officially took over the NESCAC No. 1 spot, thanks to the tiebreaker, and also the rights to home−field advantage throughout the NESCAC tournament.
Tufts, however, will have a stiff test awaiting it this weekend in the form of Trinity. While the Bantams entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed at 5−4 in conference play, they scored three second−half goals to upset No. 3 Middlebury 3−2 and win a date with the Jumbos. The team insists that it must translate a desire for revenge into focus rather than emotional and disorganized play.
"For most of the first half against Trinity the first time, we were adapting to their style of play and not playing the way that we have been playing all season — the way that has been successful for us," Dyer said. "So this time around we're going to focus on controlling the pace of the game and forcing them to adapt to us."
"We're all really excited to play Trinity," Brown said. "That's the one blemish on our season, and to be the NESCAC champions, we want to beat the best, and Trinity is definitely one of the best teams. We're just excited to have another chance to play them on our field … on our turf."
