The Tufts women’s lacrosse team has entered this season with high expectations, both from themselves and from the lacrosse world, after an impressive season last year in which they became NESCAC champions and advanced to the NCAA championship game, where they ultimately lost to Middlebury College.
“This is obviously a very new group with a lot of fresh faces but our goals are the exact same. Become the best versions of ourselves [and] win every possible game we can, including the NESCAC and [national championship],” senior attacker Allie Zorn wrote in a message to the Daily.
The Jumbos opened the season with a top five conference matchup against No. 3 Colby College, setting the tone for the year with a 16–11 victory over the Mules. They then hosted the Western Connecticut State Wolves on Bello Field, winning 19–2.
“Our commitment to a full team effort allows us to bring out the best in each other in practices, games and off the field,” senior midfielder Kate Deehan wrote in a statement to the Daily. This full-team effort was showcased by the fact that 11 different Jumbos, six of whom were rookies, scored in the game against the Wolves, displaying the impressive depth of the team’s bench.
With this momentum, Tufts traveled to Amherst, Mass., on Saturday to take on No. 13 Amherst College. The Mammoths entered the game prepared to meet that challenge, winning the first draw control and scoring less than 30 seconds later. The draw control was a crucial aspect of the game, providing the Mammoths with the majority possession in the first quarter as they won seven of the eight draw controls in the frame. Fortunately, Tufts’ defense was able to gain possession for the Jumbos.
After 10 minutes, Amherst had added three more goals while Tufts had scored only one, from junior attacker Sophia Claps, assisted by Deehan. Two goals, one from first-year attacker Eleanor Helm and one from Deehan, narrowed Amherst’s lead to one by the end of the quarter.
Tufts used the second quarter to take the lead, beginning to win more draw controls and gain more possession. Deehan used an early free-position opportunity to equalize. Less than five minutes later on another free-position chance, sophomore midfielder Neta Leschley gave the Jumbos their first lead of the game with a dodge inside and a low shot. Shortly after Amherst scored to match Tufts’ five goals, the Jumbos added three unanswered goals to reach an 8–5 lead going into halftime. The Jumbos took advantage of the Mammoths’ zone defense by feeding the ball to players cutting inside the 8-meter, as each of the final three goals of the half was assisted.
The beginning of the second half was heavily contested, with turnovers from each side. Eventually, after almost four minutes of back-and-forth play, Amherst was able to find the back of the net. Tufts’ defense applied intense pressure on the Amherst attackers, and sophomore goalkeeper Devon Chipman displayed excellent reflexes, limiting the Mammoths to only one more goal during the third quarter. The Jumbos then scored four more goals, extending their lead to 12–7.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the victory seemed secure for the Jumbos until Amherst scored three unanswered goals within the first three minutes. Tufts scored its lone goal of the quarter about halfway through, as Deehan earned her fourth goal of the game. Amherst scored two more goals to narrow Tufts’ lead to one. With about a minute left, an Amherst shot deflected off the goalpost, resulting in a heavily contested battle for the ball that caused the referees to blow the whistle with 31 seconds remaining. After a long conversation between the referees and the table, they ruled that Amherst had possession. Amherst attacker Bridget Finley scored with four seconds left after a seemingly broken-up play to force the game into overtime.
Amherst won the crucial draw control to begin overtime, and a green card was issued to Tufts, leaving the Jumbos down a player for one minute. Amherst then opted to take a time out. Attacker Emily Petersen took advantage of the defense being down a player, cutting toward the goal and barely catching the feed from attacker Kate Becker behind the goal before shooting it past Chipman to complete the upset victory.
Deehan had four goals and one assist, Leschley had three goals and one assist, junior midfielder Schuyler Lloyd led the team with three assists and one goal and sophomore attacker Anna Mollahan also scored two goals and recorded an assist. Junior midfielder Grace Hammond and senior midfielder Elsa Schutt led the team on the circle with four and three draw controls, respectively. Chipman had an impressive nine saves in the cage.
“Saturday was definitely a tough loss but it was good to learn and reflect. Going into MIT we really wanted to dictate pace and execute on our offensive and defensive goals and principles,” Zorn wrote.
Tufts bounced back in its game against MIT on Tuesday, winning 17–6.
The Jumbos will take on the University of Chicago at home this weekend before turning to No. 6 Gettysburg College the following Wednesday.
