It was business as usual for the field hockey team Homecoming Saturday as the Jumbos continued their perfect season by capitalizing on open looks to overcome the Bates Bobcats 4-2 on Bello Field.
Tufts posted three goals in the second half to push the team 4-0 in the NESCAC and 6-0 overall. The victory was the Jumbos' sixth straight over the Bobcats, who now sit at 2-5 on the season overall and eighth in the NESCAC standings with no conference wins. Tufts is currently ranked No. 10 in the nation, the first time it has cracked the top 10 in program history.
Converting on free hits in the second half allowed for a comfortable lead, as Tufts forwards and leading scorers, juniors Michelle Kelly and Amanda Russo and sophomore Tamara Brown, put to rest any fears of witnessing a Homecoming loss.
Despite entering the second frame knotted at 1-1, a free hit from Russo minutes into the second half gave Tufts the lead and provided the junior with her second goal of the game and her fifth for the season. Minutes later, Brown outpaced defenders and marked her 11th goal of the season. Kelly finished the rally by notching her sixth goal of the year with nine minutes left in the contest to extend the squad's lead to 4-1.
"I think our free hits looked really good [Saturday], and we did a good job of keeping the ball on the ground," Russo said. "It made my goal a lot easier because I didn't have to worry about fielding a bouncy ball; I just had to have my stick down."
Although Bates sophomore Stephanie Cabot scored on freshman goalie Marianna Zak with barely two minutes remaining, the damage was already done and Tufts held on for the 4-2 win.
"Their three forwards are key to their team," Bates coach Wynn Hohlt said. "They beat us to [the ball] consistently and their forwards are strong, fast and skilled. If you give them space, they will hurt you. We were put in unsettled situations in the circle and they took advantage and found open players."
"I thought we had some good hitting up the field today, but we were definitely outshot," Bates senior co-captain Rachel Greenwood added.
Unlike the balanced play in the second half, the first was spent in the Bates backfield, with the Jumbos taking 21 shots and 16 penalty corners. Although Tufts held a 20-1 advantage in penalty corners in the game, the team was only able to capitalize once when Russo scored with an assist from senior tri-captain Tess Jasinski to put the Jumbos on the board first.
"I think we had a lot of missed opportunities where the ball was right at our sticks, but our sticks weren't down or we didn't cut on it when we should have or we weren't finding the open spaces and creating goal opportunities," coach Tina McDavitt said.
In penalty-corner shots, the Jumbos used the left and right wings of the field, mainly running passing patterns between sophomore Tess Guttadauro, junior Margi Scholtes, Kelly, Russo and Jasinski.
"[Scholtes], who took the direct shot off the corner that I scored on, did exactly what she was supposed to," Russo said. "It went off the goalie's pads and made it an easy goal for me. It was executed perfectly. We need to be more consistent with plays like that."
Tufts' conversion on that penalty corner made for a short lead, as minutes later, the Bobcats were awarded a penalty corner and sophomore Sema Kazarian converted a reverse shot on Tufts sophomore goalie Katie Hyder with eight minutes left in the half. For the first time this season, Tufts did not hold a lead going into halftime.
Throughout the game, the Bobcats use of a four-forward offense presented coverage challenges for the Jumbo defenders. By playing a forward high in its opponent's backfield, Bates made it difficult for the Tufts defense to keep ahead of the ball during the Bobcats' possessions and weakened protection on both Zak and Hyder, who each surrendered a score.
"[Bates] did a good job of keeping pressure on us the whole game, and they were keeping one of their forwards really high so we had to communicate and be aware of that girl," Jasinski said. "A couple times they gave us trouble by getting behind us on offense, and I think we need to be able to better adjust, but I think we were communicating well. We haven't played many teams that have played four forwards. They were looking to make through-balls to that high girl, essentially eliminating our defense."
While the penalty corners placed the Jumbos in good position in the circle, the Bobcats successfully intercepted the majority of the passes between the Jumbos' forwards, and Bates sophomore goalie Katie McEnroe recorded 16 saves overall, six in the first half and 10 in the second.
During the second half, McDavitt called a timeout to bring attention to tighter passing and smarter ball handling.
"Bates started to put a lot of pressure on us and started to step it up," McDavitt said. "I wanted to slow down the momentum and talk to the girls about transferring the ball, getting to people on the ball to start instead of just smashing it through them, and just offensively try to cut the ball and get more shots."
"Defensively, on the corners, there were some areas that could've been cleaner, but in terms of coverage, we shut down a lot of their options," Hohlt said. "It was tough having four backs covering six people in the circle, but we did a good job with that."
The Jumbos will next face off against non-conference Gordon College at home tomorrow. While Tufts has not lost to the Scots (6-4 overall) since 2003, the team welcomes the opportunity to continue honing its game before taking on other undefeated NESCAC opponents Middlebury (6-0 overall), Trinity (7-0 overall) and Bowdoin (8-0 overall) later in the season.
"We need to be working on defense, we need to be working on footwork and [on] working together as a unit rather than individually," McDavitt said.
"We need to continue winning, but [Saturday] was not our best game," Jasinski added. "We are looking to come out strong [tomorrow] and [improve] our passing patterns and [finish] on our offensive opportunities, especially our corners."
