The women's lacrosse team on Saturday made it clear that it has turned the page on the 2010 season, defeating Amherst 14−13 at Gooding Field, where just 10 months earlier they lost in the NESCAC quarterfinals.
With 12:50 remaining in the second half and the game tied at 10, freshman attackman Gabby Horner scored one of her five goals to put No. 13 Tufts ahead for good.
Junior midfielder Steph Perez followed with her second goal just over a minute later, giving the Jumbos a two−goal advantage. The No. 17 Lord Jeffs pulled within one goal three times in the final seven−plus minutes, the last time coming from sophomore attackman Marta Randall's game−high sixth goal with just under two minutes to go. But Tufts' defense kept Randall and company in check as the clock wound down, and when the final horn sounded the Jumbos had squeaked out a narrow one−goal win.
"Our defense played really well together as a unit," junior attackman Lara Kozin said. "They communicated, our transitions were really effective and on attack we were really dynamic. Everyone on the field contributed to every goal, every ground ball — we were just really intense the entire game."
Horner's five goals led the Jumbos, whose balance on the attacking side of the ball was the key to securing a victory. Kozin and junior attackman Kelly Hyland had two goals and two assists apiece, sophomore attackman Kerry Eaton had two goals and Perez added an assist to her pair of goals.
In addition to Randall's six goals, senior attackman Kelley Trapp had four assists for the Lord Jeffs, while freshman goalie MC McClellan made eight saves but was tagged with the loss.
Tufts' zone defense was successful in its first test without senior tri−captain defenseman Lily Colahan, who was sidelined after fracturing her hand in a scrimmage against Stonehill. Colahan plays the vital "roamer" position in the zone — responsible for picking up offensive cutters — and on Saturday coach Carol Rappoli considered using a man−to−man defense. But she instead chose to stick with the zone, and junior Maggie Casey and senior tri−captain Yael Tzipori proved that they were more than capable of the "roamer" duties on defense.
"We sometimes practice in a man so that [our offense knows] what to expect in games, and we were doing it really well, so our coach told us that if our zone wasn't working out in the game she would maybe have us switch," junior defenseman Katie Lotz said. "But because we played so well in our zone we didn't end up switching, which was awesome."
The two teams were evenly matched, trading goals throughout much of the afternoon. Trapp opened the scoring and the Lord Jeffs held their only lead of the day for the next two−and−a−half minutes. The Jumbos stormed back with three goals in just over two minutes, the only three−goal streak all afternoon. The squads swapped goals for the rest of the half and Kozin scored with under a minute left to give Tufts a 7−5 lead at halftime.
Amherst managed to tie the game at nine, midway through the second period on consecutive goals from junior defenseman Meredith LaRose and Randall. After Kozin's second goal put Tufts ahead, Randall again knotted the score before Horner put home what would prove to be the game−winner.
The Jumbos won despite shooting at a less−efficient rate than the Lord Jeffs: Tufts took 25 shots while Amherst took just 16 and scored on 81 percent of its attempts.
While any NESCAC victory is significant, this one was crucial for the Jumbos, who have the big picture in mind. Tufts will try to avenge another 2010 loss on Friday as they head to Colby for the second of four straight road games.
"One of our team goals for the season is to avenge our losses from last season, so beating Amherst in that sense was a big deal," Lotz said. "Just the fact that we were able to win our first game against a good team is really important for our mentality and how far we can go in the NESCACs."
