The women's soccer team dropped its first game of the season on the road at No.18 Amherst Saturday, but finished its pair of games against top−four NESCAC squads by dominating Trinity 2−0 24 hours later. In doing so, the Jumbos established themselves in the upper echelon of the conference at the halfway point of the season.
"I think we responded pretty well [on Sunday]," head coach Martha Whiting said. "We are fortunate that we have a pretty deep bench and that we were able to use it. Our mindset was good [Sunday]. We were really frustrated with [Saturday's] loss, but I think the attitude was really positive and we came out ready to play and ready to play hard."
Any worries of a slow start Sunday were quickly proven to be unfounded, as Tufts grabbed the initiative from the get−go. The squad dominated possession early, earning a pair of back−to−back corner kicks in the seventh minute. On the second, junior midfielder Alyssa Von Puttkammer put a ball perfectly on the head of sophomore forward Maeve Stewart, who nailed one in from the far post for her second goal of the season. The Jumbos have now outscored opponents 4−0 in the first 12 minutes of games.
"The talk that Martha gives us before each game is ‘show them how much you want this,'" Von Puttkammer said. "I think when we go out we do show them that by scoring early."
The early goal also continued a theme for the Jumbos of dangerous set pieces. Of the team's 12 goals this season, four have come off of a corner or free kick.
On all of our set pieces, we just want it more," Von Puttkammer said. "We go into them with the mentality that we are going to score. No matter how we make it happen, it's going to happen."
With both teams playing their second game of the weekend, the pace of the match slowed after the opening goal, as each squad created just a few chances for the remainder of the first half. In the 14th minute, Bantams sophomore Martha Dane found some space on the left side of the box, but she could only drive a weak shot right at sophomore goalkeeper Kristin Wright.
Halfway through the period, Tufts senior left back Cleo Hirsch played in a dangerous cross that caught the foot of senior co−captain Olivia Rowse less than 10 yards out. But Bantams senior goalkeeper Lily Pepper covered up her goal well, preventing further damage.
The final chance of the half fell to the Bantams in the 35th minute after a poor clearance from the Jumbos back line created a loose ball in the Tufts box. Trinity senior forward Jenny Ley managed to get a foot on it with a sliding shot that likely would have tied things up had it not gone directly at Wright. But it did, and the Jumbos took a 1−0 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Bantams were able to create some chances early. Another defensive giveaway almost gave Trinity an opening in the box, and a shot from Ley was deflected off of freshman center back Catharine Greer before going just wide of the post. The subsequent corner was punched away by junior goalkeeper Phoebe Hanley, who replaced Wright at the intermission.
But as time crept on, Tufts began to regain control. In the 63rd minute, senior forward Jamie−Love Nichols made a run down the left side before cutting it back to her right foot and forcing a diving save out of Pepper. Less than two minutes later, Stewart made an almost identical run with the same result.
Yet despite the dominant effort from the Jumbos, the team was almost undone in the 79th minute when Trinity sophomore forward Katie Giberson was played in behind the defense. Hanley came off her line and all the way out of the box, forced to make the stop without using her hands. She was able to do just enough −− despite taking a hard knock in the process −− to keep Tufts in the lead.
The result would not be in doubt much longer. Just a minute later, Stewart made yet another run down the left side, and this time her hard drive was flicked over the senior goalkeeper's head by sophomore Anya Kaufmann for her second goal of the season. The goal all but sealed the win for the Jumbos, and it became official 10 minutes later.
Once again, it was Stewart who was in the middle of all the action. Making just her second start after returning from an injury, she created a series of dangerous chances for Tufts. Whiting has not been at all surprised by Stewart's speedy resurgence.
"When you are coming off an injury, it takes a lot of time to get your fitness back," Whiting said. "But Maeve just has a natural fitness. The minutes she has been able to give us in these past few games really has blown me away. She is a big part of our team, a big part of our offense, so it's great to have her back."
Against a No. 18 Amherst team with a perfect record, things did not go quite as smoothly for the Jumbos on Saturday. Tufts earned a pair of corners early, but was not able to convert on either. From there, it was largely all Amherst for the remainder of the half. The Lord Jeffs forced a pair of tremendous one−on−one saves from Wright, and the Jumbos defense denied another chance by clearing a ball off their line.
But in the 44th minute, it all went wrong for a Tufts squad that had been resolute defensively. A hand−ball in the box gave Amherst junior Kathryn Nathan a chance to put Amherst ahead with a penalty kick. Wright did not have enough magic to stop this one, and the Lord Jeffs had a momentum shifting goal just before the break.
Amherst pushed forward with its momentum in the second half, outshooting Tufts 8−2 and earning seven corners to the Jumbos' one. But the Jumbos did manage their best chance at equalizing early, when a free kick from senior co−captain Lauren O'Connor forced a save out of senior goalkeeper Allie Horwitz.
With time running out, and the Jumbos needing to push forward, the Lord Jeffs took the opportunity to put the game away for good. In the 83rd minute, sophomore Kate Sisk found space on the left side of the box and masterfully place a shot in the right corner, sealing the win.
"[Amherst] did impress me," Whiting said. "They don't have any superstars, but I think they are very solid in every position and they play with a lot of heart and they are really tough. They gutted it out and played a little tougher than we did, and I think we definitely learned a lesson."
Despite the definitive loss, the Jumbos are confident they can hang with the Lord Jeffs if they see them again in the NESCAC Championships.
"They were a good team, but I think we were pretty evenly matched sides," Von Puttkammer said. "We got a little bit unlucky, which was frustrating, but we used that frustration against Trinity. If we were playing up to our full potential, Amherst wouldn't stand a chance."
"We need to play with more heart, and that will come from the games ahead of us and what we do in practice," Whiting added. "Tactically and physically we have the players and ideas to play with anyone, but sometimes it comes down to the intangibles. I think we'll get there, and it showed against Trinity."
It looks like things could be very well shaping up for a semifinal rematch. Tufts has now taken 10 points out of five NESCAC games, putting the Jumbos in third place behind undefeated Amherst in first and one−loss Middlebury in second. Williams has only played three games and will likely leapfrog the Jumbos when they have caught up to them in games played. While Hamilton sits just one point behind Tufts, they still must play Williams, Middlebury and the Jumbos. It seems unlikely that the Continentals could keep up their early season form.
As the postseason scenarios begin to pile up, the team is trying to stay focused on the present, and not get ahead of itself at the halfway point of the season. But the Jumbos will admit that, after their statement win on Sunday, they are quite happy with where they are.
"We feel pretty good," Whiting said. "We have all these games ahead of us so you don't want to peak at the wrong time, and we want to be playing out best coming into the home stretch. We have some new players in key positions, and I think it's taken this long for everyone to figure each other out. Now we can really move forward playing as a group."
