It seems that a struggling team has found its way.
Not to be outdone by their male counterparts, the women's soccer team gained its third straight victory, riding two goals from junior Lauren Fedore to a 3-1 win over non-conference Brandeis on Wednesday. Following up on a strong Homecoming performance, the team has gone 3-0-1 in their last four contests to improve to 3-2-2 overall.
The Jumbos established their presence from the start. With scrappy, physical play, Tufts was able to jump out to an early lead when freshman forward Fanna Gamal struck with a goal 13 minutes into the first half.
"During practice, we have been playing lots of scrappy games with a lot of scoring opportunities to accustom ourselves with taking shots and always looking to goal," Fedore said.
Gamal slipped the ball home in a scuffle in front of the net following a feed from junior midfielder Martha Furtek. The early goal and five first-half saves from senior goalie and tri-captain Annie Ross in the backfield set a strong tone early on for the Jumbos. While they were unable to uphold their dominance the entire match, the Jumbos have shown longer stretches of strong play in recent games and continue to work towards consistency.
"We felt that it was really important to establish intensity and maintain it for 90 minutes," senior defender and tri-captain Jen Fratto said. "We didn't really accomplish that [on Wednesday], but we made good strides toward it. We're going to need to be intense for whole games if we want to keep winning down the road."
Brandeis countered early with a nice goal in the 18th minute to tie the score at 1-1. Brandeis junior midfielder Sarah Jasak was able to get a head on a well-placed cross from freshman midfielder Melissa Gornekoff.
The Jumbos wouldn't leave the game at a draw for long. Just six minutes later, Fedore capitalized on a Brandeis defensive breakdown to score the first of her two goals on the afternoon. Senior Kim Harrington came up with the ball and found Fedore to give Tufts a 2-1 lead that they held until the halftime break.
"The more we play together, the better we have been able to read our teammates and learn their playing tendencies," Fedore said. "We added seven new players to the roster this year and have a new team with different strengths and weaknesses. It has taken a while for us to work out the kinks."
Fedore struck again in the 65th minute. She got a head on a great cross from Gamal, redirecting it into the net. With her two tallies on Wednesday, the midfielder has scored four goals the season, three on headers.
For the rest of the half, Ross and the defense maintained the lead, capping off a solid overall effort by the team.
"The past four games have been better," Fratto said. "Things are starting to click, and we've gotten better every game. More people are playing in different roles, and it's all coming together well."
Tufts now heads toward a tough division contest at Bowdoin on Saturday. The Polar Bears sit at 2-4-2 this season but possess a dynamic offense that is understated by their record. A complete team performance from the Jumbos could give them their fourth straight win and signal a true tale-of-two-seasons run for the 2006 squad.
"The offense has been getting better every game," Fratto said. "Bowdoin is strong offensively, so we need to play good defense and stay strong on offense to relieve some of that pressure."
While there is still a lot left to decide in the season, many of the early-season worries for this team have been resolved. The recent streak has shown the talent and resiliency of this year's team, and the Jumbos will hope to piggyback these results to the next level.
"One of the things we strive for every game and during every practice is to maintain a level of intensity and also to simply have fun and not put too much pressure on ourselves," Fedore said. "I think that there was a lot of pressure on us in the beginning of the season, and now that we have rid ourselves of some of that by showing that we can win, we are performing much better."
