If there were any lingering doubts about the Tufts' offensive prowess, they were answered definitively on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Waterville, Maine. The Jumbos thoroughly dominated an overmatched Colby side, scoring early and often and bringing home a 3-0 victory from their first road trip of the season.
"We are getting more offensive opportunities," senior forward Jamie Love-Nichols said. "We aren't always connecting well, but I think we are a more offensive team this year and it's showing."
The Jumbos had scored first in each of their four games this season, and once again came out looking to do just that. It paid off when, in the 11th minute, a long clearance from senior left back Cleo Hirsch was run down by Love-Nichols. She won the fifty-fifty challenge and found herself in on goal. Freshman goalkeeper Emily Brook got her leg on the shot to the right post, but the ball still trickled into the net for the early lead.
Tufts would add its other two goals off set pieces, an area of the game that the Jumbos have excelled in all year. The first came in the 38th minute, when Tufts earned a free kick about 40 yards away from goal, and senior co-captain Lauren O'Connor delivered a perfectly placed ball to the far post. Sophomore forward Anya Kaufmann played the ball back across goal, where classmate Maeve Stewart easily finished it from less than five yards out for her first tally since the Jumbos' last game against the Mules in October 2010. Though she is still recovering from an injury, Stewart has been the team's most dangerous threat coming off the bench in the last two games.
"I just keep thinking, ‘how can I best help the team out there,' since I can't be out there as long as I usually would be," Stewart said. "I have 15 or 20 minutes to just go as hard as I can to help the team, so I am just trying to play as simply as possible and giving it my own."
While the second half was more of a back-and-forth, the Jumbos still managed to add to their lead in the 67th minute. Junior Alyssa Von Puttkammer played in a dangerous corner that ended up loose in the box. Freshman Alina Okamoto was in the right place to fire home the first goal of her collegiate career, all but sealing the game in the process.
"We've been successful [on set pieces] because the players who are taking the kicks have been playing phenomenal balls." Stewart said. "All we have to do is make our runs and get on the end of them."
In the end, Tufts outshot Colby 15-10 over the course of the game but only 6-5 in the second half. Three goalkeepers combined for the shutout: junior Phoebe Hanley, along with sophomores Kristin Wright and Rachel Chazin-Gray. They only needed to make two combined saves.
While the scoreboard undoubtedly showed a dominant performance, the team was disappointed by the energy they came out with in their first road game. The trip to Waterville was longer than three hours, and definitely took its toll.
"Everyone was definitely a little tired, and the energy level wasn't as high as we would have liked," Stewart said. "It definitely wasn't our best performance yesterday, and we need to be tough when we go on the road against some of the other teams in the NESCAC."
The 3-0 victory marked the team's largest margin since their 2010 season opener against Middlebury, which it won by the same score. Tufts now has 10 goals in its first five games after scoring just 15 in 14 games last season. The new-look offense has the Jumbos looking like one of the most dangerous teams in New England.
"We changed the offense this year to have a target forward and two wings, so there is more of a defined position for each of the forwards," Stewart said. "I think that is definitely helping, and I think everyone is working well as a team. More people are scoring and working together to score instead of just one person carrying the team."
The Jumbos are ranked fifth in the region at the moment, but may move up following their draw with No. 23 Wheaton — No. 3 in the northeast — and this convincing win. No. 5 Williams and No. 15 Springfield currently sit above Tufts in the national rankings. Neither Tufts nor Amherst made the top 25.
Through three NESCAC games, Tufts has now earned seven points with a win and two draws. This leaves the Jumbos tied with Williams and Middlebury, though the Panthers have played four games. The only team that remains perfect in the conference is Amherst, which won its third straight game on an extra-time goal against Hamilton.
Tufts will travel across the state to try to ruin that perfect mark on Saturday. Though the Jumbos are off all week, the game will be made more difficult thanks to a change in NESCAC scheduling that forces teams to play a pair of weekend doubleheaders over the course of the season. Tufts will host Trinity, which also has yet to lose this season, on Sunday.
"It's a huge weekend with two of the better teams in the league," Stewart said. "We have to play both games as well as possible. The first is on the road so hopefully we come out strong there. On Sunday, we are going to be tired, so it's going to be a big mental battle for us."
With the first part of the season in the books, the Jumbos have been happy with the way they have played, but they won't let complacency stand in the way of getting better.
"I think we are doing okay, but I think we have a lot of room for improvement," Love-Nichols said. "We are in a good place, and we have good places to go."
