By now, the women's soccer team has a pretty good feel for the other teams around New England. In their 15 games against some of the region's top teams, the Jumbos have beaten four of the top 10 to move themselves to No. 3 in the region.
But tomorrow's NCAA first-round game in Hamilton, N.Y will pit Tufts against the No. 7 team in the region - a squad that, despite its proximity, has never played Tufts in its decade of existence.
In their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, the Jumbos will take on the Emmanuel Saints of the Great Northeast Atlantic Conference (GNAC) tomorrow afternoon.
The two teams could not have more different NCAA histories. The Jumbos advanced the championship game in 2000 and the Final Four in 2005, while the Saints have never advanced past the first round.
But if the accomplishments of this season are any indication, the Saints have the potential to rewrite history this time around. Emmanuel won both the GNAC regular-season and tournament titles, going 12-0-1 in the league and 17-2-2 overall. Even more impressively, the Saints outscored opponents 71-25, and they're currently riding a 16-game unbeaten streak.
"I expected us to do well in the conference," Saints coach Wayne Currie said. "But I'm surprised at how well we played because we basically dominated. We expected to win, but not to dominate like this."
While on paper, the Saints' numbers and current winning streak have the potential to alarm a Tufts team that has no game-based experience to go on, the Jumbos are looking forward to the challenge.
"It is kind of exciting to play a team that we never play," coach Martha Whiting said. "Sometimes when you play a team in the NESCAC, it becomes too familiar. Playing a team like this keeps it different."
That attitude has certainly translated to the field this season, as Tufts won all of its out-of-conference games this season. Emmanuel went 2-2-1 against non-conference opponents this year.
Comparisons between the teams end at their one common opponent: Babson. Tufts took care of the Beavers 4-1 on Sept. 25, while Emmanuel lost 2-1 just 12 days earlier.
Still, the Jumbos will not be taking the challenge lightly, especially after being upset by fourth-seeded Bowdoin in the NESCAC Tournament semifinals in a game that came down to penalty kicks.
"[The Bowdoin game] will be in the back of our minds," sophomore Cara Cadigan said. "But we want to use the NCAAs to prove we could have done better, and we should have done better."
"They are over [the loss]," Whiting said. "It's kind of like we have new life breathed into us. Everyone is really excited to be playing in NCAAs, and we are focused on winning it."
Regardless of the past, both Whiting and Currie are looking to the future.
"We are going to try and continue with our same game plan - play hard and smart for 90 minutes and try to have some fun out there," Whiting said. "Now is the time to step that up."
"Our last two weeks, we have been playing really well," Currie said. "But I told them last night we can play better, and hopefully we are not at our peak just yet."
The teams have similar goal-scoring potential, and both teams have emerged with multiple lopsided victories this season. Though Emmanuel has both scored and surrendered more goals than Tufts, both teams have averaged more than 2.5 times the offensive output of their opponents this season.
In addition, each team has a newly-added goal-scoring threat this year. Like Cadigan for Tufts, the Saints' freshman Amber Di Nucci has tallied 17 goals, while also assisting 11.
"It's really hard to tell how freshmen will do and how they will adjust to the pace and physicality of the college game, but she met all of our expectations," Currie said. "She was the second-leading scorer in high school in the state [of Massachusetts], and she has carried that scoring ability into college."
If Tufts wins tomorrow, it will play the winner of a Hamilton-Moravian matchup in the second-round of the tournament.
