Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Women's soccer poised to defend second place finish

After finishing one goal shy of a national Division III title, women's soccer coach Martha Whiting says she has the personnel to repeat last year's success. While some members of last year's 18-4-1 team have graduated, the squad's foundation remains intact.

A preseason coaches' poll has Tufts ranked second in the nation. This comes as no surprise to returning players, who can remember the Nov. 19 match when over 1,000 fans packed the stands of Kraft Field to watch Tufts flirt with a national title against the College of New Jersey in a 2-1 loss.

The team's immediate concern will be filling gaps left by the three graduated captains: goalkeeper Randee McCardle, midfielder Sara Yeatman, and defender Carmen Mikacenic. McCardle set a Tufts record for career shutouts with 24 and last season was a third team All-American and second team All-NESCAC. Yeatman was chosen for first team All-American as well as first team All-NESCAC, after she finished first on the team with 11 goals.

Mikacenic achieved second team All-NESCAC status, but her coach says she performed better than the award indicates. "Although Carmen wasn't an All-American, I think she was one of the toughest defenders in the country," said Whiting, last year's National Soccer Coaches Association of America coach of the year. "All three of those players were very important to our success."

The team also lost junior midfielder Adie Sherwood, who scored the lone Tufts goal in the national championship game, after she transferred to Cornell over the summer.

While the losses are significant, there are six seniors on this year's squad, including new co-captains Lynn Cooper and Katie Ruddy, who were both integral parts of last year's team. Whiting has yet to meet the 22 freshmen players vying for positions in the starting lineup, but is optimistic after holding interviews and watching video tapes.

Aside from personnel changes, the biggest obstacle in the Jumbos' path could be a new NESCAC rule that eliminated at-large bids for the national playoffs. The women's soccer team, like most of Tufts' sport teams, participates in the NESCAC division, which typically fields some of the strongest Division III teams in the country.

At the end of each season, there is a NESCAC tournament, with the winner getting an automatic bid for the national playoffs. In the past, a committee chose other teams to receive an at-large bid. If the new system had been in place last year, Tufts would not have made the playoffs.

"It makes it a lot tougher when you play such strong teams," Whiting said. "This season, we will not be able to breathe easy until the last day of the [regular] season."

Though the decision to eliminate the at-large bid was contested by students across the NESCAC, no effort has yet to overturn the ruling. Whiting, however, says a compromise may still be reached.

Last season's high finish has focused national attention on the program, which should help the team's future recruitment efforts.

"There are a lot more kids who know about us before they get here," Whiting said. "People all over the country know what we did. It didn't really help us in recruiting for last year since it happened so late, but I think for next year it will have a bigger impact."

After being named national coach of the year in only her second season as head coach, Whiting says she will stick to her winning ways. "Winning that award makes me work harder," she said. "To achieve something like that at a young age is amazing, and now I want to keep it up."

The team will not have long to dwell on past victories and an uncertain future. The regular season begins on Saturday, Nov. 8 against Babson. While this non-conference game will have little impact on the final standings, the Jumbos will square off against NESCAC rival Middlebury on the following Saturday at home.