When only looking at the final statistics, the No. 13 women's lacrosse team's game against No. 11 Amherst on Saturday appears to have been evenly matched. Tufts held a 22?16 advantage in shots, and the teams were remarkably close in most categories. But sometimes, the stat sheet fails to tell the whole story. The Lord Jeffs' 12?4 win demonstrated that, even if two teams look close on paper, the final score can still be lopsided.
The source of the blowout was the first half, when the Jumbos were held scoreless while the Lord Jeffs scored five goals, four of which came from free?position shots. The Tufts offense, despite several good opportunities, could not find a way past senior goalie Lamia Harik, posting a goose egg through the first 34:30 of game time.
"The game was definitely the most frustrating one we have had yet," senior tri?captain Katie Lotz said. "There definitely were moments of greatness from our team, but we just couldn't hold onto the ball long enough to get the goals that we needed. We looked at the stats after the game and saw that it was pretty even, with our team actually coming out on top in a lot of the categories, so it was super frustrating that we didn't come out with the win."
The real killer for the Jumbos was all the free?position shots they allowed, particularly in the first half. Even though the Lord Jeffs only had six shots in the opening period, they managed to come away with five goals, largely because shooting space violations by the Jumbos granted them easy opportunities.
"It was unfortunate that they got so many free position opportunities, because those shots are so hard to stop," Lotz said. "I wouldn't really say there was any one cause of why they got so many free positions, they just were able to work the ball around and attack in a way that caught us in shooting space a few times."
The free?position goals contributed to a demoralizing day for the Jumbos, who could have risen above the Lord Jeffs in the NESCAC standings with a win. Despite the numbers on the stat sheet, Tufts was constantly frustrated on the offensive end, and Amherst eventually established a 9?1 lead in the second half before conceding a few consolation goals.
"In the first half, we only had the ball for about five to seven minutes on offense," sophomore midfielder Kate Applegate said. "Amherst's style of play was slow and patient, capitalizing only on the perfect opportunities. Our defense played very well, but Amherst was coached to counter our style of play and knew how to play around our defensive zone."
With the loss, the Jumbos dropped to 3?4 in conference play, leaving them alone in seventh place in the standings. While its chances of falling below eighth place - and out of the conference tournament - are remote, the defeat certainly increases the likelihood of Tufts facing one of the NESCAC powerhouses, Trinity or Middlebury, in the first round.
Now, the team knows it must focus on the last three games of the season in order to find its rhythm for the tournament.
"Heading into these last three games we're going to focus a lot on our attack and figuring out how to make our team gel more on the field from the defensive end to the attack," Lotz said. "Our goal is definitely to win the rest of the games that we have and to stay positive knowing that regardless of our seed in the tournament we can still win it."
Tufts has reason to believe that it can finish strong: Two of its last three opponents, Bates and Wesleyan, sit in eighth and ninth place in the conference, respectively, and have just three NESCAC wins between them.
However, given the roller?coaster nature of the NESCAC season, the team knows it has flaws to fix if it wants to end the regular season on a high note.
"We're focused on working hard, one day at a time," Applegate said. "Although we've had some tough breaks this season, everyone is energized for the final stretch. I think our best is yet to come."
