After two home conference victories against traditional NESCAC lightweights Colby and Conn. College, the Jumbos hit the road today for their first true test of the season: an annual contest versus the nationally-ranked No. 8 Wheaton Lyons in Norton, Mass.
Currently ranked No. 4 in New England, the 2-0 Tufts squad is fresh off a 2-0 victory over Conn. College on Saturday. But the Jumbos will need to be on top of their game if they hope to beat the Lyons, a feat they have not accomplished since 2005 in a dramatic come-from-behind 5-2 victory in the NCAA Tournament Sectionals.
"There's definitely a rivalry," senior tri-captain Maya Shoham said. "We play them close and have really competitive games."
Losing to Wheaton, which heads into today's game riding a six-game winning streak and boasting an 8-1 record, in consecutive shutouts the past two years is something that has resonated with the older players, but the rivalry between the two teams is more nebulous for the new faces on the team, many of whom have never faced a powerhouse like Wheaton before.
While the Jumbo defense did not allow a goal in the season's first two games, that statistic will be harder to maintain against the powerful Lyon offense, which has churned out 16 goals in its last four games. Tufts will count on its underclassmen to play significant roles, as three of the team's graduating seniors from last season occupied key defensive positions. Those three spots are now shared by first-year Cleo Hirsh and sophomores Audrey Almy, Carrie Wilson and Bailey Morgan.
"They'll have to step it up, but I think they'll do well," junior tri-captain Whitney Hardy said. "Here at Tufts, we always try to expect the team we're playing to be very good."
"Our young players and everyone on the team work extremely hard regardless of the opponent, so I think that with their work ethic, [their inexperience] won't be a disadvantage," Shoham added.
While the game against Wheaton is a non-conference contest, it certainly doesn't lessen the significance of a potential victory against a regional Goliath: The Lyons are currently ranked second in New England.
"Especially for the returning players, it's a very big deal to win the game [today]," Hardy said.
In 2006, the Lyons shut out Tufts 1-0, before once again asserting their dominance last season with a 2-0 victory on the Jumbos' own Kraft Field. The team will have to come out strong, attacking the ball both offensively and defensively to achieve success on the road against Wheaton.
"What will be important is the entire team's offense," Shoham said. "We had a lot of chances against Conn., and we didn't really follow through on [them], so if we do that more as a team, we should be set.
"[The defense] has been working a lot on playing together," she continued. "They'll have to play the ball. They'll have to step together."
This season the Wheaton game, which traditionally comes as the second one of the season, happened to fall later in the month, giving the Jumbos a second tune-up of sorts with its contest against Conn. College.
"We're really young, so the more we play against other teams, the better off we'll be," Shoham said. "Every game we play, every win we get, we become more cohesive as a team. The defense becomes more confident. We should have more chances that we'll hopefully capitalize on in the game against Wheaton."
Shoham, the sole senior on the team, is the only player left on the roster who defeated the Lyons in 2005. That year, the Jumbos were down 2-0 at halftime before coming out and scoring five second-half goals to beat Wheaton and move on to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
But despite the historical subtext, the players are still keeping the game in perspective.
"We just have a lot of history with them, and we haven't been as successful the last couple years against them," Shoham said. "It would be great to beat them, but it's essentially just another game, and we have to beat good teams to continue doing well. This is just one of them."
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