The women's soccer team may have debuted a new-look lineup over the weekend, but the results certainly didn't seem to indicate any change at all.
After graduating a class of seven seniors that posted a .750 career winning percentage against NESCAC foes, the Jumbos' revamped younger squad continued the program's string of conference success Saturday, picking up a 1-0 win over the Colby Mules in its season opener on Kraft Field. Starting six underclassmen and playing five freshmen, coach Martha Whiting was glad to get the 2008 season, as well as a new chapter in her program, off on the right foot.
"You always worry about those first-game jitters, but I think we settled in just fine," she said. "We definitely have things to work on, and we'll just keep getting better from here. But I was definitely satisfied with the end result. To get a win and to have it be in-conference is great."
The game's lone tally came in the 24th minute, when junior tri-captain Cara Cadigan picked up her own rebound and drove a shot past Colby senior tri-captain and goalkeeper Rachel Freierman to account for the final 1-0 margin. Coming off a season in which she shattered Tufts' single-season scoring record and earned NESCAC Rookie of the Year honors, Cadigan will lead what the team expects to become a potent group of forwards.
"Cara will score this year; she'll always score," senior tri-captain Maya Shoham said. "Our group of forwards, even the ones that came off the bench, did a great job today. We have a ton of weapons on this team, and I know we'll get better and better."
The Mules haven't always been Tufts' easiest opponent, managing four wins and two ties in the teams' last 11 meetings. But in recent years, the Jumbo defense has given its team the edge, and Saturday was no different. The team's goalkeeping tandem of junior Kate Minnehan and sophomore Hannah Jacobs made just one save the entire afternoon, as four first-time starters sophomores Audrey Almy and Carrie Wilson and freshmen Cleo Hirsch and Olivia Rowse ensured that Cadigan's lone goal would suffice. Including Saturday, Colby has now gone 294 consecutive minutes without scoring on Tufts, a run that dates back to the 2005 NESCAC semifinals.
The squad was satisfied to see its overhauled defense put forth a solid debut against a Mules offense that notched five goals over its first two games.
"[The defense is] very young and inexperienced, but they're all really smart," Whiting said. "They learn quickly, and they did exactly what we asked them to do. We just have a little fine-tuning to do, but other than that I thought they did a really, really nice job in their first outing together."
"We're playing a lot of new players, and we haven't played together that much, so it felt good to finally go out and get the first one out of the way," Almy said. "Now we're excited to see where we can go from here."
Colby's best chance to score came in the 53rd minute, when Mules' sophomore midfielder Leah Turino found herself one-on-one against Jacobs in front of the Tufts net. But the first-year fired her shot wide, hitting into the side of the net and keeping the Jumbos' slim advantage intact.
With an atypically light early-season schedule one year ago tomorrow, Tufts was already playing its fourth match of the season the Jumbos will have a full week off before taking Kraft Field for another NESCAC showdown, this time against Conn. College.
Tufts last faced the Camels in the first round of last season's conference tournament, cruising to a decisive 6-0 victory that represented the Jumbos' biggest offensive outburst since 2003. Not only will Tufts have to contend with a conference foe Saturday, but it will also be up against a team that is likely bent on revenge.
"We did end on maybe a sour note with them because we scored six goals on them in their last game of the season," Whiting said. "I'm sure they'll have that in the back of their heads and that they'll be gunning for us."
