Jumbos suffer first loss in homecoming upset

The undefeated streak had to end some day, and Saturday proved to be that day. No. 4 Tufts field hockey came out to Bello Field looking to defend its home turf and record its seventh straight win this year, but instead gave up its first and second goals of the season and failed to break down the Amherst defense in a close 2-1 loss to the nation's 11th-ranked team.

Amherst has given Tufts significant trouble in recent years. In the past four meetings, including Saturday's tilt, Tufts is just 1-3, with that lone win coming in overtime.

“Everybody in the NESCAC is great,” coach Tina McDavitt Materra said. “In my opinion, it’s the top league in Div. III, so you’ve got to be ready to play every day.”

The upset brings the Jumbos to 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in the NESCAC, tied for second place in the conference. The only undefeated team left in the NESCAC is now Bowdoin, the defending national champion and top-ranked team in the country, whom Tufts will play in its final regular-season game.

“I think what was lacking was that we weren’t making adjustments fast enough,” McDavitt Materra said. “In past games we were able to figure out quicker what other teams were doing and make adjustments on the fly, but this time we were making the same mistakes over and over.”

The Jumbos were quick to open the scoring, taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute when sophomore forward Dominique Zarrella knocked in her sixth goal of the season off of a rebound. For the remainder of the game, though, the prolific Tufts offense failed to find the back of the net.

McDavitt Materra’s team kept the pressure on throughout the first half, but the Amherst defense, anchored by lockdown performances from sophomore goalkeeper Emily Horwitz and junior defender Annie Turnbull, stymied Tufts’ efforts. Late in the first half, a few minutes after a diving goal-line save from Turnbull to keep Jumbo senior co-captain Brittany Norfleet’s shot out of the net, the Lord Jeffs retaliated with a goal from senior Madeline Tank. It was the first ball to get past senior goalkeeper Brianna Keenan this season.

The game remained tied at 1-1 for most of the second half with both teams bringing pressure and failing to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Horwitz added five more saves, bringing her tally to nine on the game, and Turnbull made another impressive save in the circle to prevent a goal by Zarrella.

With under seven minutes remaining, Amherst took the lead when Keenan came out to make a save and junior midfielder Annika Nygren slipped a shot past her. Turnbull, despite being a defender, assisted on both of Amherst's goals. The Jumbos were unable to respond, ultimately falling 2-1.

“I don’t think that we played horribly as a team, but I do think that we are capable of playing much better,” Zarrella said. “I wasn’t exactly thrilled with my own performance; there were some things that I could have done differently, but I think that as a team we will be able to watch film, see what went wrong and learn and grow from it.”

By the numbers, the Jumbos held the advantage the entire game, out-shooting the Lord Jeffs 15-8 and holding a 5-3 edge in penalty corners. Amherst won in arguably the most important category, though. Horwitz made nine saves in front of the net, while Keenan only made one.

Keenan has still only given up 37 goals in her 45-game Tufts career and gave up more than one goal in a loss only twice last year. In her third year starting in goal, the senior will likely be able to bounce back from this loss.

This setback, however, means the Jumbos will have to clean up their play, return to their game plan and keep their confidence up as they head into the remainder of the season and duke it out with more NESCAC teams for a favorable seed in the postseason tournament.

“I think we need to work on shooting more when we get into the circle and not playing with the ball as much,” McDavitt Materra said. “Just get rid of it, take a quick shot on net or draw a corner. Defensively, we just need to work on our communication from the backfield all the way up so that we’re very organized and have a lot of layers so it’s difficult for opponents to get through us.”

Tufts returns to action on Oct. 2 at 5 p.m. at home on Bello Field and looks to bounce back with a win against the University of New England.

“I think that the loss was a pretty big wake-up call,” Zarrella said. “Obviously none of us like losing, but I think that we can learn a lot from this game, and I think that, if anything, the team is even more fired up to play in our next game, and we’re going seeing this loss as an opportunity to learn from our mistakes and come back stronger.”