The Wheaton Lyons beat the Jumbos at their own game yesterday.
In Saturday's women's soccer season opener against Colby, Tufts came out firing in the second half and overwhelmed the Mules, scoring twice to pull away with its first win of the season.
Three days later, it was Wheaton that outplayed Tufts in the second frame, notching two goals to pull away 2-0 in the Jumbos' home opener at Kraft Field. Tufts dropped to 1-1.
"It wasn't that we didn't have intensity," sophomore Jesslyn Jamison said. "It wasn't really one thing. It was sort of disappointing because when something like that happens, we usually come back really hard."
"In the second half, they came out harder than we did," senior Joelle Emery added. "We weren't necessarily overtired, but we were back on our heels, and they came out with more energy."
Tufts' heated past with Wheaton goes back three years and did not make yesterday's loss any easier to swallow. The Jumbos avenged a 2004 loss to the Lyons by thumping them twice in 2005, including a 5-2 comeback victory in the NCAA sectionals. Last year, however, the Lyons emerged victorious, handing Tufts a 1-0 decision that dropped it to 0-1-1 on the season.
"It's a game we like to win," Jamison said. "It's always a really hard game - they're a very pushy and very physical team. It definitely did sting."
Tufts got off to a promising start, taking control and making smart ball-handling decisions early. Though they were unable to capitalize on any of their scoring opportunities, the Jumbos came through several times on the defensive end to keep the game at a deadlock. Sophomore Kate Minnehan was strong in goal, making crucial saves on a series of corner kicks in the last minute of the first half to keep the game scoreless going into the break.
Some of the Jumbos' second-half difficulties can be attributed to their inexperience with the new 4-3-3 formation, which replaced their previous 4-4-2 setup this season. Ideally, it will promote effective transitions and trigger a higher offensive output, but after a frustrating preseason and yesterday's loss showed, there are still some kinks to work out.
"The two goals they scored on were transition goals," Emery said. "That shows that we're still trying to figure out our formation."
After Wheaton senior Ashley Furr edged Jacobs to break the scoring drought, a tally from freshman Colleen Liffers on a feed from senior Jenna Rabesa put the game out of Tufts' reach.
The game was capped off by a pair of yellow cards that went to a physical Wheaton team at the 76 and 78 minute marks.
[The fouls] were definitely not intentional," Minnehan said. "That's just the way they play."
Though the loss put a damper on Tufts' early-season success, the Jumbos will have to rebound quickly to be ready for their upcoming showdown with NESCAC foe Middlebury on Saturday. Tufts dropped its only contest with Middlebury 2-1 last season, and the team is determined to pull out a win this time around to move back above .500.
"Middlebury is always a very strong team," Emery said. "They're usually big and physical, but we're really looking to bounce back from today. It was a loss, and it's over. We're hoping to come out hard and outplay them and put away our second NESCAC win."
"They definitely represent a team we view as one of the really good ones," Jamison added. "They're a team that we can play really well and competitively. We're just hoping to take from what happened and play like we know we can play."
-Eddie Mishan contributed reporting to this article.
