Jumbos split NESCAC games to stay in conference playoff spot

The No. 16-ranked women's lacrosse team split games at Bello Field against No. 11 Hamilton on Saturday and against Williams on Wednesday.The Hamilton Continentals defeated the Jumbos 13-12 in a contest that was back and forth up through the final minute, but the Jumbos recovered to take the Williams Ephs down 9-5 just a few days later. Tufts' conference record is now 2-4, tied with Williams for seventh place in the NESCAC and seeded to go to the conference postseason tournament as things stand now. The Jumbos boast a 6-5 record overall as they benefit from strong out-of-conference play. With four NESCAC games remaining on the schedule, it's still possible for the team to move up in the rankings and improve its postseason seed.

Tufts hosted Hamilton on Bello Field in a game dedicated to supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It was also Seniors' Day, and the Jumbos' three senior tri-captains Caroline Ross, Brigid Bowser and Jaymi Cohen were honored before the game.

Tufts started slow against Hamilton, and first-year Kara Pooley scored the first goal for the Continentals on a free position shot two and a half minutes into the game. Senior Margaret Gabriel added on for the Continentals to bring the score to 2-0, and the game showed signs of slipping away from the Jumbos. Bowser brought Tufts back on a free position shot of her own, a resurrection act she would repeat in the second half.

Six minutes elapsed without a goal before Hamilton sophomore Darby Philbrick broke the stalemate with 19:52 left in the first half. First-year midfielder Megan Toner brought the Jumbos back within one just 30 seconds later on an assist from sophomore Caroline Nowak, who then scored her own goal three minutes later on a pass from sophomore Jenn Duffy.Pooley scored her second goal of the day, but the Jumbos pressed the attack, as Toner and Nowak both scored a second time, putting the Jumbos ahead 5-4 for their first lead of the game.

"Caroline Nowak did really well," Ross said. "I thought she did a great job on both attack and defense, bringing the ball up the field in transition ... She played a great game."

Hamilton scored two more goals in the first half, bringing its total to six, but Duffy tied the score with 3:36 left to go. The Jumbos pulled ahead thanks to sophomore Taylor Meek and Ross, who demonstrated excellent chemistry when Meek scored with 2:20 left on Ross's assist, and then Ross scored on a pass from Meek with 57 seconds remaining in the half. The Jumbos led 8-6 through the halfway point.

Hamilton charged out of halftime, scoring five straight goals to take an 11-8 lead.Junior Morgan Fletcher scored first on a free position shot, and her classmate Casey File netted one to tie the game with 26:57 left to go in the game. Up a player, Fletcher capitalized to put the Continentals ahead with 19:01 left, and File scored her second goal 47 seconds later.Pooley extended the run, and Hamilton led with her third goal on only five shots.

"We had a lot of turnovers at the beginning of the second half, and that really allowed them to go on that big run, which was kind of a turning point," Ross said. "We’ve just got to do a better job of when we have the lead coming out hard and not letting teams score more than one or two goals on us."

After going scoreless for half the period, the Jumbos answered back. Nowak broke the seal with 13:24 left on an assist from Meek. Bowser, demonstrating her uncanny ability to contribute however the team needs her, rocketed a free position shot past junior Hannah Rubin to pull Tufts to within one, and the game was tied a few minutes later with a second goal assisted by first-year Gabby Vinci.

Philbrick refused to let Hamilton go down and scored two consecutive goals of her own once the Continentals had gotten the ball back. The Continentals won the face-off, but Bowser forced a turnover as they were trying to stall moving the ball back to their defensive zone. Bowser quickly found Ross who finished the play and brought Tufts within one with 1:06 remaining. Despite Ross's score and a chance to equalize after winning the ensuing face-off, the Jumbos couldn't convert before time ran out and found themselves one goal short against a NESCAC opponent for the second Saturday in a row.

"I think we are definitely improving as we get more experience, but we still have a lot of areas to work on," Ross said. "With such a young team we’d have to be constantly improving, but there are still things that we can work on."

Ross cited keeping up the need to keep up the team's intensity for the whole game and not just one half of the game as one of the areas in which the Jumbos need to improve.

In a very different story on Wednesday, the Jumbos took care of business early against the Ephs. Nowak scored first on a free position shot, followed by Ross, Meek, Toner, first-year Dakota Adamec and then Bowser.Through over 28 minutes of action, Tufts held Williams scoreless. The Ephs avoided a first-half bagel, thanks to senior captain Micaela Dussel's free position shot with 1:14 left in the half, but Bowser quickly quashed any momentum they may have gained by tacking on another score 15 seconds later. The Jumbos carried a 7-1 lead into halftime.

Eight and a half minutes into the second half, Ross earned her second score while the Jumbos were up a player. Adamec tacked on another goal, her fourth of the season, on a free position shot. The Ephs rallied and managed four more goals through the end of the game, making the score more respectable, but they were simply unable to threaten the Jumbos' lead. Junior Jenna Chodos scored three of the Ephs' five goals.

"I think that we still have got to do a better job of keeping up the pressure even when we are up," Ross said. "We let up a lot of goals, [and] we didn’t score as much in that second half. We could have scored more, gotten people off of the bench and into the game."

Solid goaltending for both teams kept the scores relatively low, as both goalies saved a majority of the shots that came their way. Junior goaltender Margaret Draper saved 11 of 20 shots for the Ephs and first-year Jumbo Audrey Evers continued an excellent rookie season with six saves on 11 shots.

The Jumbos played aggressively, racking up 26 fouls to the Ephs' 17, but that play-style also led to success in causing turnovers. Bowser caused four turnovers to go along with her three draw controls and three ground balls. Nowak led the team with four draw controls.

"We really came out hard on both sides of the ball," Ross said. "We were putting the ball away on attack and making big stops and big saves on defense, and I think that both sides being able to play well was the difference in that [game]."

The Jumbos next take the field away against No. 7 Amherst on Saturday. Amherst is currently tied with Colby for fourth in the NESCAC with a 4-2 record. Tufts has a full week before its next contest this Saturday, and Ross said they will use it to work out the kinks in areas that may need improvement.

All four of Tufts' remaining regular season games are against NESCAC opponents in a key stretch of the schedule that will determine whether the Jumbos qualify for the NESCAC tournament and what seed they earn. Despite the pressure, the Jumbos remain focused.

"We really are focused on just taking it one game at a time," Ross said. "Really it just comes down to being the best team that we can be regardless of the opponent, training hard in this week we have to practice and just playing smarter in each game."