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The Setonian
Sports

Volleyball | Jumbos shoot down Gulls

October 22

    The Tufts volleyball team cruised to a straight-set victory over Endicott on Wednesday, and in doing so the Jumbos sent a warning message to the rest of Div. III New England Volleyball: Tufts is back, and with a vengeance.     Following a surprising loss to Middlebury last weekend that snapped a program-record 19-game winning streak, the Jumbos have now strung together three straight wins, dropping only one set along the way. On Wednesday, Tufts dispatched the Gulls with ease, winning the match 25-21, 25-17, 25-21.     The Jumbos, who are jockeying for a top position in the Div. III rankings both regionally and nationally, relished the opportunity to face Endicott, which came into the match winless against NESCAC teams but with an impressive upset victory over UMass Boston on its résumé.     The Jumbos dropped the first game of their season to UMass Boston but were able to redeem themselves a month later, when they beat their non-conference rival in a thrilling 3-2 match at home in Cousens Gym. While these two teams remain major contenders for a high seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, the Jumbos, by squashing Endicott on Wednesday in such a dominant fashion, furthered their case to be considered among New England's elite squads.     "We sent the message to New England that we are getting better," said senior co-captain Brogie Helgeson, who sparkled on the defensive side Wednesday with a team-high 13 digs. "We are sending the message that we are taking care of business against a weaker team, stepping up when UMass crumbled under the pressure."     The Jumbos got off to a sluggish start on Wednesday and were down 13-8 in the first set. But the team got back on track with a devastating combination of tough defense and strong play from junior outside hitter Caitlin Updike, who went on a seven-point serving run that included two aces.     Updike finished the game with 13 kills and only one error in 29 attempts — an impressive .414 hitting percentage. Some younger players helped out as well, with freshman Brittany Neff and sophomore Lexi Nicholas contributing six and five kills, respectively. The team as a whole played a very clean match, committing only nine errors on 92 attempts even as they dealt with a physically imposing Endicott front line.     "They are a very big team and a good blocking team," Updike said. "They had a full six-foot block on for the whole night. They played good defense and covered our hitters really well, but we were able to play strong defense and get great touches."     The Jumbos' defensive effort was spread out on Wednesday, as four players reached the double-digit mark in digs. Helgeson tied Updike with her 13 digs, while sophomore libero Audrey Kuan and fellow sophomore Cara Spieler chipped in with 10 digs each.     "Things turned around once we started playing defense together as a team," said senior co-captain Dena Feiger, who committed just three errors to go with her 40 assists on Wednesday. "Our defense flowed together really well, and we were able to improve on our mistakes."     With this non-conference victory under their belts, the Jumbos moved to 22-2 on the season. The team's NESCAC record of 7-1 ensures that they remain in control of its destiny within the league. If Tufts can defeat Trinity and Amherst on Halloween weekend, it will repeat as NESCAC regular-season champion and will host the playoff tournament.     The Oct. 31 matchup on the road versus Amherst looms as a particularly challenging confrontation. In its last faceoff against Amherst in last year's Hall of Fame Tournament at Smith College, Tufts barely escaped with a win, taking the match with an 18-16 win in the fifth and final set. The matchup with the Lord Jeffs, who have lost just four games total this year, will likely determine the conference championship — Amherst stands now tied for second place at 6-2 and may be able to tie the Jumbos with a win.     But before it finishes the NESCAC season, the team turns its attention to Smith for this weekend's Hall of Fame Tournament, a contest that will feature many of the top teams in the region. The games this weekend may not count in the NESCAC standings, but they are crucial for a proud team hoping to show that it is the cream of the crop in New England.     "We go out to win every game," Feiger said. "We don't change our intensity. Our goal is to show who the best team in New England is, and we think that's us."

The Setonian
Sports

Football | Jumbos look to rebound against Ephs on Saturday

October 22

    After having its two-game winning streak snapped in a 10-3 defensive battle last weekend at home versus Trinity, the Tufts football team will now turn its attention to breaking a different streak at Williams.     The Ephs enter Saturday's contest with a 14-game win streak at home against Tufts on the line, having gone 12-0-2 since 1981 at Weston Field against the Jumbos. In taking on a Tufts squad that ranks last in the conference in scoring offense, the pressure should be on Williams, owners of a 3-1 record and winners of two straight games, to keep the run alive.     As they have done all season, the Jumbos will rely on their lockdown defense — which held the high-scoring Bantams to just 10 points and forced eight punts — to help carry them throughout the afternoon. Though Tufts has scored the fewest points in the NESCAC, it has also allowed the fewest at 46.     But the Ephs counter with the top rushing offense in the league, led by junior running back Ryan Lupo, who posted a 37-carry, 136-yard performance against Middlebury last week that earned him the NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week award. The first-year starter averages 106.2 yards per game and has a league-leading five touchdowns.     "Williams always has a talented back, a north-south guy rather than an east-west one," senior tri-captain defensive back Alex Perry said. "If you let him get in the open field, he'll kill you, so we just need to step it up in the front. We played great last week, so we just need to carry over our toughness and physicality."     Though the final stat line might not show it, the Jumbos were their usual selves at stopping the run last week against Trinity. Despite heading into the contest with the conference's best run defense, Tufts allowed Bantams senior back Oliver Starnes to accumulate 141 yards, but 41 of those came on a single run in fourth-quarter garbage time. Still, the Ephs will present an entirely different challenge for Tufts' defensive 11.     "They're a multi-dimensional offense," Perry said. "They'll throw a lot at you, a lot of different packages. We've tried to emulate that during practice, to see what personnel matches up against theirs. They have a very good offense, but I think our game plan is ready to go."     Though Tufts boasts the third-best rushing offense in the NESCAC, its ground game stalled versus the Bantams, as it accounted for just 16 yards on 29 carries for a paltry 0.6 yards-per-carry average.     So far, the biggest offensive spark for the Jumbos has been junior running back Pat Bailey, who ranks second in the NESCAC in all-purpose yards, averaging 160 per game. In order to get the ball moving versus the Ephs, senior quarterback Tom McManama and company will turn to Bailey for that down-the-field big gain that has for the most part eluded the Jumbos' offense thus far.     "I'm sure they're going to have someone keyed on Pat and will do something in their defense to focus on him," McManama said. "He's definitely proven himself to be our biggest playmaker; he's leading our team in rushing and receiving yards. I think we should just keep giving him the ball until they can prove they can stop him."      Additionally, the Jumbos will get back junior wide receiver Steve Cusano, described by McManama as "one of the fastest guys we have on offense." Having Cusano should bolster a passing game that averages just 132.5 yards per game this weekend.     "Getting Steve back is definitely going to be huge for us," McManama said. "He's definitely a playmaker, has great hands and should help us a lot."     Bailey and McManama showed flashes that seemed indicative of the Jumbos big-play ability in the final drive against the Bantams, hooking up for a 65-yard pass play into Trinity territory. They will have to replicate such efforts against the Ephs defense on Saturday.     "We just need to make big plays in crucial situations … instead of just settling for a five-yard gain," McManama said. "Initially, we just need to get the small yards and move the chains, but when the opportunity presents itself we need to capitalize. We want to be aggressive, want to try to get as many yards as we can and make the job on our offensive coordinator a lot easier."     The Jumbos and Ephs have a history of low-scoring games — last year playing to a 17-7 Tufts victory at the Ellis Oval — and this year, with two of the NESCAC's best defenses at play, should be no exception. Yet, it will ultimately come down to fixing mental mistakes, according to the Jumbos.     "We took a look at the film of the Trinity game, and we made a lot of mental mistakes," McManama said. "Our big goal for this game is to have as few of those as possible. If we're in the right spot, if everyone's doing their job, then we're going to put up a lot more points."     But coming off a tough loss to the Bantams, the Jumbos are focused on not slipping below .500.     "Last year we had a tough loss against Trinity and then rebounded with a huge win against Williams," Perry said. "We've been put in a similar situation this year but just have to find a way to rebound, not let that loss linger in our mind, and totally move on.     "If we just play our style, winning should take care of itself," he continued. "We have a little chip on our shoulder. I think people just want to go out and win and finish the season with a great record, and it all starts with Williams."

The Setonian
Soccer

Women's Soccer | Tufts takes care of business against Salem State

October 22

    With a crucial matchup against nationally ranked No. 2 Williams looming this weekend, Wednesday night's game against non-conference Salem State had the potential to be a trap game for the women's soccer team. The Jumbos, however, kept their focus on the Lady Vikings and came away with a 2-0 victory in their final non-conference contest of the season.     "[Losing focus] was definitely something we had to think about, but our game plan for this season has been focusing on what's important now and taking one game at a time," junior defender Sarah Nolet said. "So we just had to think about tonight and make sure we get [done] what we needed to get done."     The Jumbos, as they have throughout their current four-game undefeated streak in which they have gone 3-0-1, controlled the flow of the game, keeping possession for large stretches of time and not allowing Salem State to build any momentum. In anticipation of playing on the slick turf at Salem, Tufts, which usually practices and plays its home games on the grass of Kraft Field, practiced on Bello Field on Tuesday to acclimate itself to the faster surface — an adjustment that paid dividends on Wednesday night.     "We were playing on the ground well," Nolet said. "It was nice to practice on the turf [Tuesday] to get an idea of the surface, because we're not really used to it. I think we came out knowing that we had to play the ball on the ground with nice crisp passes to feet, and it worked."     After dominating possession for much of the opening half, Tufts got on the board in the 25th minute on a goal by senior co-captain forward Cara Cadigan. The goal, Cadigan's third of the season and first since Homecoming, was scored after a pass from senior midfielder Fanna Gamal. While the goals for Cadigan have not come at the astounding rate that they did in 2007, her last full season for Tufts, she plays an integral part in how the Jumbos advance the ball offensively.     "Cara is always a big threat, but people know who she is, so she is usually pretty heavily marked," junior midfielder Geneva DeGregorio said. "We just need her to keep doing what she's doing and have everyone else look to go forward as well."     Tufts went into halftime with the 1-0 lead, having outshot Salem State 9-3 and forcing five saves from Lady Viking sophomore goalie Lindsey Burke. The second half featured more of the same style of play, with Tufts controlling the game in the midfield.     "Today we had great communication on the field," DeGregorio said. "That was a big thing we really worked on in practice and it proved very helpful."     With just under 20 minutes to go, senior co-captain forward Whitney Hardy sealed the victory with her seventh goal of the season, with Gamal once again providing the pass. Wednesday night also marked Hardy's fourth straight game with a goal, which Nolet believes is a testament to Hardy's grit and determination.     "Whitney works really hard," Nolet said. "She never gives up and plays with a lot of heart, and that has been showing in the past couple games."     A strong Jumbo back line, anchored by Nolet, led to the season's seventh shutout. Senior goalie Kate Minnehan was only forced to make one save, as Tufts outshot the Vikings 16-4.     The win moved the Jumbos' record to 7-4-1 and marked the end of the non-conference portion of the schedule, in which they went 3-2.     All sights are now set on Williamstown, Mass., where the nation's second-ranked team has dominated opponents both in conference and out, amassing a 12-0 overall record and a 7-0 mark in NESCAC play. The Ephs have outscored their foes by a daunting 45-3 margin, having only allowed goals in three of 12 games played while averaging nearly four goals a game.     Offensively, they are led by the duo of junior Annelise Snyder and sophomore Brett Eisenhart, who with 21 combined goals have accounted for almost half of their team's scores on the year. Snyder is the epitome of a super-sub; she is second in the league in goals while only having started two games.     The Jumbos, however, remain confident in their ability to contend with any team, regardless of that team's accolades.     "Williams is going to be one of the toughest opponents we see all year, but it's definitely a winnable game as long as we come ready to play 90 minutes of the best soccer we've played all year," DeGregorio said.     "We're going to focus on what we need to do right, because if we do all the things we're capable of doing, we'll definitely win," Nolet said.

The Setonian
Sports

Field Hockey | Jumbos knock out Fighting Scots in 9-0 beatdown

October 21

After last Saturday's devastating 2-1 overtime loss to the Trinity Bantams, the Tufts field hockey team was forced to go back to the drawing board. In Wednesday's 9-0 road win against the Gordon College Fighting Scots, the Jumbos proved that taking a step back made all the difference.

The Setonian
Sports

Sailing | Tufts sails to 12th place in adverse conditions

October 20

A combination of poor conditions and a top-heavy field led to a rocky weekend for the nationally ranked No. 10 Tufts sailing team at the Navy Fall Invitational in Annapolis, Md. The Jumbos faced a cold and rainy Saturday and a 20-team field that included nine of the top-10 ranked teams in the nation, with only No. 1 Yale absent. However, Tufts was resilient, earning a respectable 12th-place finish. The first two races on Saturday set the tone for the day. In the first, Tufts did not place higher than 10th in any of the four divisions, while in the second, the Jumbos rebounded to place no lower than eighth. Throughout the day's 12 races, they continued their inconsistency. Every division earned multiple top-10 showings, but the end result was a 13th-place performance heading into Sunday. Senior Rachael Brill, who sailed in the A division with classmate Tomas Hornos, felt that the weather was unquestionably a factor on Saturday. "The weather definitely started to affect us by the end of the day," Brill said. "The wind was pretty shifty, and Tomas and I were definitely cold."   However, the Jumbos were not ready to give in, and they got off to a strong start Sunday with second-place performances in both the B and D divisions in the very first race. "In the first race, the current was pushing everyone behind the line. I was able to realize that and was out in front the whole race," said freshman Albert Nichols, who sailed in the D division. From there, Tufts turned in a solid day all around, led by strong performances in the A division by Hornos and Brill and in the D division by Nichols; Hornos and Brill picked up only 84 points in eight races while Nichols had 75. The Jumbos managed to jump past the University of Miami in the final race to take 12th. "Everyone in each division stepped it up a little," Brill said. "Saturday we had an OCS [crossing the starting line before the race starts]. The second day, we really picked it up. We were off the line with the other boats. We had clear air. We played the shifts really well." Overall, Tufts got its strongest performance from the D division, which accounted for only 204 points, compared to the other three teams which all finished in the 230s. Nichols showed poise down the stretch, picking up a second place and two fifth places on Sunday. "Going into the second day, we knew where we stood in the regatta," Nichols said. "We knew we could only improve from there. We just went into each race looking to do better than the last one." The race was a great opportunity for underclassmen like Nichols and fellow freshman William Hutchings, who sailed in the C division and finished in 13th place. They found themselves in the middle of a regatta with many of the country's best teams, picking up valuable experience. "It was a great opportunity for us to sail with some of the best," Nichols said. Tufts also competed in two other regattas this weekend and posted similarly up-and-down results. At the Great Herring Pond Open at the Mass. Maritime Academy, Tufts finished seventh in a field of 18. The effort was led by impressive performances from junior Sally Levinson and senior Peggy Tautz, who is solidifying herself as one of Tufts' top skippers. The two combined for third place in the A division, only accumulating 40 points in eight races. Finally, at the Captain Hurst Bowl at Dartmouth College, weather took its toll on both the event and the Jumbos. Due to a lack of wind both days, only four races per division were able to be run. The Jumbos struggled, posting only two top-10 finishes and ending up 18th out of 20 teams overall. "Overall, we were a little disappointed," Brill said. "As long as we are more consistent next time, staying in single digits, we can place much higher. It was a learning experience. By the end, we all clearly learned a little bit."

The Setonian
Sports

Four Jumbo duos compete at elite tennis tournament

October 19

While tri-captains junior Julia Browne and senior Meghan McCooey were off winning their second straight Intercollegiate Tennis Association Small College National Championship in doubles in Mobile, Ala., the rest of the women's tennis team was taking care of business at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament at Amherst, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges.

The Setonian
Sports

Daily Digits

October 19

14 - Consecutive home games in which the field hockey team had allowed no more than one goal, including the postseason, prior to Saturday's match against No. 5 ranked Trinity. The Bantams defeated the Jumbos 2-1 in overtime, handing Tufts its first loss of the year and snapping the aforementioned streak.

The Setonian
Sports

Inside the NFL | Week six separates contenders from pretenders

October 19

In a jumbled week six that saw records fall, beasts tumble and Brett Favre stay true to his old game-winning self, a few perennial victors returned to their past dominance, convincingly establishing themselves as the teams to beaten in their respective conferences.

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