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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Tufts shows grit in comeback wins

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Senior forward Brittany Norfleet charges past a Williams defender during a 2-1 victory on Oct. 18.

Coming off a rough stretch where the team lost two of its last three games, the Tufts field hockey needed to stay near the top of the NESCAC and make a statement. This week, it did just that.

On Wednesday night, No. 10 Tufts battled back from an early deficit against No. 8 Wellesley to win 2-1.They accomplished a similar feat with the same result against a fierce Williams team on Saturday afternoon.

The stakes were set entering Saturday’s competition. Both Tufts and Williams came in at 4-3 in conference play, tied for fifth place, while falling lower in the standings would mean facing a potentially tougher team in the first round of the NESCAC championship tournament.

The Jumbos duked it out with the Ephs for 55 minutes before the scoreboard showed anything other than zeros. Tufts threatened in the 15th minute when junior midfielder Rachel Terveer took a shot off a penalty corner that was only saved by a diving Williams defender and again in the 41st minute when a shot by sophomore forward Annie Artz went off the crossbar and out.

The Ephs, meanwhile, had several chances of their own, including a series of three penalty corners and five shots in the last five minutes of the first half that were thwarted by strong defensive play and two saves by Jumbo senior co-captain keeper Brianna Keenan.

Ultimately, though, it was Williams that struck first. With just under 15 minutes to play, Eph first-year Julianna Kostas took a pass in front of the net and slipped a ball past a diving Keenan to put her team up by one.

That lead was short-lived, however, as Tufts responded just three minutes later. Junior midfielder Dakota Sikes-Keilp fired one of her trademark rocket shots off a penalty corner that deflected off the Williams keeper to Artz, who knocked it in for the equalizer and her seventh goal of the season.

The Jumbos kept the pressure on and took the lead with three-and-a-half to play. Sikes-Keilp got a goal of her own off of another penalty corner, taking a pass from junior defender Alexandra Jamison and firing it home to send the Ephs packing.

Wednesday night’s victory, also on Bello Field, followed a similar story line. Tufts faced an accomplished Wellesley team that was 12-1 going into the game and came out ready to play. The Blue took advantage of a relaxed Jumbo start and scored on a penalty corner with the game’s first shot.

Under the shadow of this early disadvantage and with their work cut out for them, the Jumbos would not allow another score for the next 69 minutes. The first step in the comeback came in the 13th minute, when Artz stole the ball from a Wellesley player trying to clear it and sent a pass to Zarrella in front of the goal, who snuck it in to put Tufts on the board.

Despite the goal, the play in the first half was not as even as the 1-1 score would indicate. The Blue had the majority of scoring opportunities and kept play mostly in the Jumbos’ half of the field. Wellesley also took eight shots to the hosts’ three while holding the advantage in penalty corners.

But the game was a tale of two halves. The Jumbos came out fired up for the start of the second half, dominating ball control and wearing down the Blue with an unrelenting attack, while a shutdown defense did not allow a single opponent shot or penalty corner.

“I think it was mostly a mindset change,” Zarrella said. “We switched from playing their style to finally utilizing our system and playing together.”

“I think that in the second half we focused on spreading the forwards out down the field and started working harder to get to some of the 50/50 balls,” senior defender Colleen Golja added.

After 20 minutes of constant pressure and several points where it seemed as if the go-ahead goal was inevitable, the Jumbos took the lead on Zarrella’s second goal of the game. Sikes-Keilp took a shot off of a penalty corner that was saved and deflected to junior midfielder Maggie Chapman, who dished it to Zarrella in front of the net again.

“Neither of the goals would have happened without determination from my teammates,” Zarrella said. “Annie [Artz] did an amazing job of stealing the ball and bringing it into the circle and passing it to me for the first goal, and the second goal I was just in the right place at the right time. Dakota [Sikes-Keilp] took a shot, got her own rebound, and then Maggie [Chapman] crossed the ball over to me on the post.”

The score remained 2-1 going into the final whistle, and Tufts came out on top in a battle of top ten teams for the second time this season. Zarrella’s two goals move her tally to nine on the season, keeping her spot as the Jumbos’ top scorer.

Tufts now stands at 10-3 on the season, 5-3 in the NESCAC. One issue that emerged in these wins was the typical slow start that has plagued the team throughout the season.

“We are constantly trying to work on our energy coming out, and I think as we move forward our focus is going to be directly tuned into playing our system no matter the opponent,” Golja said. “This allows us to spread the field and move the ball in our passing patterns.”

Proving that the team can come back from a deficit is a huge statement for Tufts, especially for when they play national No. 2 and defending national champion Bowdoin next week in a matchup that could likely see Tufts down early.

“Being able to come back from a deficit gives me a lot of confidence in our team,” Zarrella said. “I think that all of the girls do a great job of staying determined and staying positive when we are down, which is key to coming back from behind. In our past two games we’ve started to get our groove back and I’m confident that it will transfer to our upcoming games.”

Hopefully the Jumbos will carry this momentum into their final two games of the season, the first of which is Saturday at noon at Bello Field against the Hamilton Continentals.