The last time the field hockey team played Amherst, it fell to the Lord Jeffs 2-1 in a disappointing game early in the 2007 season. This time around, the nationally-ranked No. 10 Tufts team showcased its unstoppable offense, earning its fourth shutout of the year and improving to a perfect 5-0 in conference and 8-0 overall.
In their first of three consecutive games on the road this month, the Jumbos defeated NESCAC rival Amherst by a score of 4-0 on the Lord Jeff's Gooding Field. For the third week in a row, Tufts remains in the top 10 in the national rankings, while Amherst left Saturday with a 2-3 NESCAC mark, 4-4 overall.
Tufts controlled the pace of the game for most of the first half. With controlled, two-touch passing plays, the Jumbos kept the ball in the Jeffs backfield and earned a penalty corner five minutes into the game. While three first-half saves from Amherst freshman goalie Emily Vitale kept Tufts at bay for some time, the Jumbos eventually broke through, taking the lead going into halftime by capitalizing off of penalty-corner opportunities.
With six penalty-corner shots in the first half alone, Tufts' senior tri-captain Brittany Holiday was able to score on the fourth such opportunity, notching Tufts' first goal of the game by rebounding her own shot off Vitale's pads with about 15 minutes left before halftime. Junior Amanda Russo followed with a goal of her own with 2:57 remaining in the first half, finding the back of the net off a broken penalty-corner in front of the circle, bringing Tufts' lead to 2-0 going into halftime.
"We got in a lot of shots, but their goalie was really strong," coach Tina McDavitt said. "That's why penalty corners are key and we capitalized off those today. We finished on our penalty corners this week, as three out of our four goals were scored on [them]. We adjusted what we were doing on our penalty corners to get behind them on our plays."
Going into the second half of play, Amherst came out aggressively, but the Tufts defense held the Jeffs at bay. Freshman keeper Marianna Zak was well-protected for the full 70 minutes, as she only had to make one save in the game and allowed Amherst just one penalty-corner opportunity. The Jumbos' effective defense began with their forwards, intercepting Amherst passes and connecting with midfielders and defenders to create fast-break situations. The Jumbos kept Amherst to just two shots compared to Tufts' 19.
"We held possession for most of the game, but they came out with intensity in the second half," junior forward Michelle Kelly said. "We did a good job defensively of limiting their passing options, clearing the ball from the circle and blocking up their free hits."
"We did a lot of two-touch and two-on-one passing patterns and did a lot of passing up the field," Russo added. "On offense, we looked for situations where we had two offensive players when facing one defensive player. On defense, Tina had us practicing making sure we weren't double-teaming and everyone was going to their person so [Amherst] had no one to pass to. It made it easy for us to make interceptions and regain possessions."
Tufts' offensive consistency allowed the Jumbos to double their lead in the second half, scoring off both a free hit and a penalty corner. With 26 minutes remaining in the game, Russo chipped the ball into the top of the goal off a feed from junior midfielder Margi Scholtes, marking Russo's eighth goal of the season.
"Everyone was scrambling to get in front of the net," Russo said. "I was yelling to Margi 'take it now' because I was wide open and the person marking me was behind me. Margi made a perfect hit, and I was keeping my stick down, deflecting it off into the goal."
"Our passing patterns were great [Saturday]," senior tri-captain Marlee Kutcher added. "People were looking to get it to our forwards upfield and our halfbacks did a good job of working together. Margi hit a great free hit that Amanda chipped and the ball went up and over the goalie's head into the goal. Margi's free hits into the circle have been great and we did good job on getting a stick on them."
The Jumbos converted on another penalty-corner play minutes after Russo's goal, notching their fourth and final goal of the game. Kelly received a cross from Holiday, tapping it in past Amherst defenders to record her eighth goal of the 2008 campaign.
"We set up a corner and we knew that they usually sent defenders up high in the backfield," Kelly said. "We worked the ball around them and it went back to [Holliday] who had a great pass right across the cage and I got it, flicking it past the defender who was at the post. We worked really hard on corners this past week and it paid off in the game."
Tufts' next contest will be a crucial showdown with perennial powerhouse Middlebury (3-1 NESCAC, 6-1 overall), currently ranked second nationally, and carries major implications in terms of conference hierarchy. Last year, Tufts defeated Middlebury in a regular season matchup but later suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to host Panthers in the NESCAC Tournament semis.
Especially when one considers that Middlebury's lone loss this season came at the hands of national No. 1 Bowdoin Saturday, it's clear that the Panthers remain a formidable opponent for the Jumbos, perfect record or not. Middlebury is averaging 5.38 goals-per-game, second only to Tufts' 5.50 goals-per-game, and both teams tie in assists-per-game with 3.33 on average.
"Today was one of our best games individually and as a team," Kutcher said. "If we can keep up this momentum we can beat Middlebury. We need to work on finishing more because we can't assume that we will have that many corners against a team like Middlebury or that many scoring opportunities in general."
"Next week is a really important game for us and we know that they are going to come out fired up to beat us," Holiday added. "We're really excited to play them again especially after losing against them in the NESCAC Semifinals. We're expecting an aggressive game, as they've proven in the past, and to win, we're going to have to play like today -- a smart game."
