It looked to be over before it even started, as the No. 12 field hockey team defeated the Springfield College Pride 9?0 on Bello Field last night. Despite falling three spots in the national polls this week, the Jumbos looked as good as they have all season, in the victory. The nine goals mark the most scored by Tufts since Oct. 20, 2009, when the Jumbos defeated Gordon College by the same score.
"We had our energy up coming off [Sunday's win over No. 16] Trinity," said sophomore midfielder Steph Wan, who notched two goals and an assist in the rout. "We were just able to find the holes and connect really well with each other."
After a few near?misses, Tufts finally got on the board at 25:42 of the first half, when junior forward Kayla Murphy collected sophomore forward Chelsea Yogerst's rebound for Tufts' first score of the game. From there, Tufts continued to capitalize on the Pride's mistakes and rack up corners. Finally, at 17:59 senior co?captain Lindsay Griffith found the winning combination and made it 2?0 off a feed from sophomore midfielder Emily Cannon. Griffith would prove to be unstoppable on the day, as she redirected classmate and co?captain defender Taylor Dyer's penalty corner strike to make it 3?0 at 4:33 before the half.
Things only got worse for Springfield after the break. Just 30 seconds past the intermission, the Jumbos earned a penalty corner and the floodgates opened for the rest of the game. Junior midfielder Rachel Gerhardt received the penalty corner insert and drove the ball toward the right corner for the 4?0 lead. The Pride defense was rattled, and two minutes later made a critical mistake that resulted in the Jumbos' third penalty stroke in as many games. Griffith stepped to the line and beat freshman goalkeeper Tory Sowizral for her first career hat trick, extending the Jumbos' lead to 5?0.
"It feels great," Griffith said of the shutout. "I think we've finally hit our stride. This season the scoreboard hasn't always reflected how we've felt we played, but today it did."
The scoreboard would continue to accurately reflect the play on the field as Tufts continued to challenge a fatigued Springfield squad that was just seeking to limit the damage. As the Jumbos' reserves filtered in, Yogerst - who earned a starting position at center forward on the day - went on a two?goal scoring streak. First, at 28:33, she capitalized on a clean feed from Wan, and just three minutes later would combine with Cannon for her second. Wan would finish the scoring for the Jumbos at the 9:01 and 1:02 marks, though in between a tally was called back that would have tied the program record for goals in a game with 2008's 10?1 victory over Wesleyan.
Though the focus was mostly on offense, the Tufts defense was equally impressive. While the attack rattled off 45 shots, the backline allowed zero from the visitors and surrendered just two corners compared to Tufts' 18.
Overall, the game was a perfect tune?up for the Jumbos' last five contests of the regular season, all of which will come against NESCAC opponents. Conn. College, Williams and Bates loom closest. However, in just two weeks awaits Hamilton, the only team in the conference to defeat No. 8 Amherst thus far. Tufts will then take on undefeated No. 2 Bowdoin in the two teams' regular season finale showdown on Oct. 26.
"The next five are NESCAC games and today was a huge morale boost for us heading into the weekend and the rest of the season," Griffith said. "We're doing all the rights things, now it's just about eliminating the bad things. As always, we're just excited to get back out there and keep playing."
"I think we just need to keep the intensity where it's at," Wan said. "The results will come from there."
