Despite suffering an upset loss to conference rival Trinity last Saturday, the women's soccer team still had a chance to take over first place in the NESCAC by beating Williams on Saturday.
The Ephs, however, had other plans.
In a game with enormous postseason implications, Williams, ranked No. 6 in Div. III, beat the Jumbos 2-0 in Williamstown to clinch the conference regular season title and earned the right to host this year's NESCAC Tournament.
After churning out their highest offensive output of the season against Keene State on Wednesday with a 5-0 victory, the Jumbos were held scoreless for the third time this season and lost their second straight conference game.
Williams, boasting the strongest offense in the NESCAC, got to work early.
In the game's seventh minute, freshman Sara Wild hit a hard cross in front of the net that found the Ephs' leading scorer, Gabrielle Woodson. The junior played the ball on a bounce, sending a laser past sophomore goalkeeper Kate Minnehan.
Down a goal, the Jumbos came back fighting, picking up their intensity and holding Williams scoreless for the next 53 minutes.
"I think we could have come out harder than we did," sophomore Ali Maxwell said. "They definitely came out flying - we could see that with the quick goal. It woke us up and got us going, and we really started playing our game. We were able to shut them down because of that."
Frustrated on the offensive end, the Ephs also buckled down on defense, keeping the Jumbos off the board and effectively slowing down the team's most potent offensive weapon in sophomore Cara Cadigan, the NESCAC's leading scorer. Cadigan, who has 13 goals this season, was held without a shot.
"They were definitely sticking tight to Cara and making sure she had a lot of pressure on her," Maxwell said. "They were also playing kind of off our wings and playing further back, which made it hard to hit the balls over. They were trying to make sure our speed didn't hurt them."
"They played three in the back, and they're very strong," senior Joelle Emery added. "They did a really great job of not letting our strikers turn on them."
Williams committed 20 fouls over the course of the game compared with the Jumbos' eight, and while the penalties did offer Tufts several scoring opportunities, the Jumbos, who ultimately outshot the Ephs 11-10, were not able to capitalize.
"They're a very physical team and they got a little sloppy, but we had a lot of restart opportunities and we really need to take advantage of those," Emery said. "We didn't put any away. I think that's something we're going to work on - if we're able to score off one or two of those, it's a completely different game."
"They gave us a lot of free kicks, especially some dangerous ones near their goal," Maxwell added. "But at the same time, they stopped a lot of our buildups - so it was good for shot opportunities, but it also just broke up our overall rhythm of play."
The Ephs added an insurance goal 15 minutes into the second half. Senior co-captain Ana Sani darted down the right wing and sent the ball in to sophomore Brianna Wolfson, who tapped it past Minnehan for Williams' second goal.
The Jumbos will play their final game of the regular season next Saturday on the road against Conn. College. Though Tufts may have let its last two conference games get away, the team is determined to close out the season with a win to solidify a second seed in the NESCAC Tournament.
"I think that overall, we're just excited to win," Emery said. "We started off with such a great record in the NESCAC and overall. Unfortunately we've dropped the last two [conference] games, but I think we're one of the strongest teams in the NESCAC. We're just excited to win and finish the season off in second place and face whoever's next for us."
