On a chilly Halloween afternoon, the Bates Bobcats once again were the women's soccer team's boogeyman.
For the third time in the past five years, the Bobcats knocked the Jumbos out of the NESCAC Tournament in extra time. This year, a 0−0 match on Kraft Field was decided by a Bates 3−2 penalty shot win, which knocked Tufts out of a tournament it entered as the host and No.1 seed.
Tufts has now been eliminated from the NESCACs in shootouts in three of the past four years. The Jumbos have a historical 0−4 record in NESCAC Tournament shootouts.
"Knowing our team's history, we've been doing [penalty kick] shootouts everyday for the past two weeks, and I personally have been taking 20 or 30 a week," senior co−captain Sarah Nolet said. "[Bates junior keeper Annie] Burns came up really big and it's really impressive for anyone to save three [shots in the shootout], but it's really on us. We should have done better."
Each team converted its first attempt in the shootout, but Burns denied Nolet, Tufts' second shooter, putting the Bobcats ahead 2−1. The score was quickly evened in the third round, when Bates junior forward Tina Tobin ricocheted her shot off the post.
After both teams failed to score in the fourth round, Burns made the save of the match, diving to her left to deflect a shot from Tufts junior midfielder Alix Michael that was headed just inside the post.
Bates senior midfielder Meredith Poore then stepped up without hesitation and put the match away with one last well−placed kick past freshman goalie Kristin Wright. The Bobcats were through to the semifinals.
As expected of the No. 1 seed, the Jumbos had the majority of the opportunities over the course of the game. Just eight minutes in, Michael sent a shot in with a lot of pace and Burns just barely managed to tip it over the bar. Then, in the 23rd minute, Tufts junior forward Jamie Love−Nichols found some space to send a chance toward goal. But Burns, in an effort eerily similar to her penalty kick stop later in the match, extended to her left and got a hand on the shot.
Throughout the rest of regulation time, the Jumbos found success through the air, but every header seemed to end up in Burns' lap. Freshman forward Sophie Wojtasinski had one of the best chances late in the first half, while Nolet had a few of her own throughout regulation and extra minutes.
"I give a lot of credit to their goalie, but there is no excuse for us not scoring," senior co−captain Carrie Wilson said. "We had a lot of opportunities and we were clearly the better team. We can't make any excuses for why we didn't score. I wish more than anything that we could play this game over."
Though the Jumbos struggled offensively, their defense was as impenetrable as ever, restricting the Bobcats to just four shots on goal. The team earned its ninth shutout of the season and has only allowed a single regulation goal since September. This year's squad tied the 2007 Williams Ephs for the fewest goals conceded in NESCAC history.
"I was telling [coach Martha Whiting] today that I wish they could send you to the NCAA tournament based on goals against," Nolet said. "But we win and we lose as a team and we missed a lot of opportunities."
Yet Sunday's loss also earned the team some less desirable points of notice. The team now joins the 2010 Conn. College men's lacrosse team as the only two NESCAC one seeds ever to fall to an eight seed in the conference tournament.
But there is a silver lining for Jumbo fans. The Camels made the NCAA tournament last spring, a feat that Tufts hopes to replicate in 2010. Tufts sits currently in eighth in the regional rankings and Middlebury set the precedent of a NESCAC at−large bid last season. But the Jumbos will need teams above them in the regional rankings to win their conference tournaments, keeping more at−large spots available.
"We are planning on practicing this week because if a couple things fall where they need to, we can still get an at−large bid," Nolet said. "It really just depends on where we end up and what everyone else does. It's hard to say for now."
If the loss to Bates does mark the end of the team's season, it has plenty to be proud of. After a slow start that saw the Jumbos go 1−2−2 in their first five games, Tufts reeled off six straight victories, including five straight shutouts. During the stretch, the Jumbos benefited from goals by seven different players, with only Love−Nichols scoring more than once. Three freshmen forwards each had a goal, as did two defenders. Time after time, Tufts found creative ways to win.
"If you look at the beginning of our season, we really weren't getting the results we wanted," Wilson said. "But we really pulled things around and came together as a team. It wasn't always pretty, but we got the job done."
After a draw with national No. 14 Williams, the Jumbos found themselves tied for the top spot in the conference with one game to play. Tufts then rallied and beat Bowdoin. The team watched with bated breath as the final minutes of Amherst's loss to Trinity ticked off the clock, which clinched Tufts' first regular−season NESCAC women's soccer title since 2005.
"I definitely think this is the best team we have had in four years," Nolet said. "We were all talking today about how there was just something there this season that really felt like we could do big things. It just seems really unfair that it was just snatched out of our grasp."
While the team had a great year all−around, the Jumbos would not have hosted the NESCACs without the stellar play of their veteran backline. Nolet and Wilson were stalwarts at center back, while senior Audrey Almy and juniors Cleo Hirsch and Laney Siegner were top−class all season.
This made life easier for Wright and sophomore keeper Phoebe Hanley, a pair of young goalies who were thrust into the starting role this season. They responded by combining for a .910 save percentage, allowing only .40 goals per game. Wright was also honored with a NESCAC Player of the Week award.
Offensively, the team has a lot to look forward to, with Love−Nichols and a handful of freshman forwards, including stand−out Maeve Stewart, due to return next season. Michael will also be back to run the offense from the midfield, where she was a constant threat to opposing defenses in 2010.
The Jumbos may end up short of their ultimate goal of making the NCAA Tournament, but regardless, this season was one of the strongest in recent memory.
"I am so proud of my team," Wilson said. "I love my team to death. I think that soccer and this team is the best part of Tufts for me, and I am so happy that I am a member of it. I think it was a great season, and I hope that it's not over. I wouldn't count us out yet."
