Women's lacrosse falls in NESCAC quarterfinals

The women's lacrosse team's season ended in the NESCAC quarterfinals on Saturday with a 14-10 loss to Middlebury College on the road at Kohn Field in Middlebury, Vt. Although Tufts finished its regular season on a high note -- taking down teams from Bates, Wesleyan and Bowdoin, in a row---the No. 6 team from Middlebury proved to be too large of an obstacle for the team to handle for the second time this season.

The Jumbos are a young team this season, as the thirteen first-year players outnumber the combined three seniorsand six juniors on the team. First-year Dakota Adamec shone on offense in the latter half of the season, netting 12 goals and 7 assists in 11 games after she returned from injury. Adamec also earned NESCAC player of the week for her late-game heroics in a 13-10 win over Wesleyan on April 23. Her classmates Cecily Freliech and Megan Toner were also in double digits this season as well, scoring 12 and 11 goals respectively.

Senior tri-captains Caroline Ross and Brigid Bowser led the Jumbos in scoring by a substantial margin with 42 and 38 goals, respectively. Ross led the team with 23 assists, and the two collectively accounted for 80 of Tufts' 193 goals this season. Ross finished second in the NESCAC in total points with 65, and was also named NESCAC Player of the Week for her play in a March 26 win against the five-time defending NESCAC champion Trinity. At the game, Ross assisted first-year Gabby Vinci's game-tying goal before scoring the game winner with 13 seconds remaining.

Bowser's team-high 44 ground balls led the NESCAC,and she finished in a tie for third place in draw-controls and fourth in caused turnovers, demonstrating her versatility as a midfielder.

Sophomores Taylor Meek and Caroline Nowak led their class in scoring with 18 and 14 goals, respectively, and junior attacker Kate Mackin topped her class with 15.Nowak scored the final goal in a crucial 6-5 win over Bates on April 19.

Eliminated from the NESCAC playoffs, the Jumbos now hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament on the strength of their No. 16 rank nationally and their 9-7 overall record. The three late NESCAC wins brought Tufts' in-conference record to 5-5, just below last season's 6-4 finish.