Less than a week later, the Tufts women's soccer team still has its collective mind on the way its season ended: with a 4-2 NESCAC tournament semifinal loss to eventual conference champions and nationally ranked No. 2 Williams.
"It's definitely a disappointment, as all endings are, but we put up a great fight," sophomore midfielder Lauren O'Connor said. "We got off to a rough start, but we never gave up, and we walked off the field with our heads held high. Williams is a great team and could very well go on to win a national championship, and I think we did some very great things despite the loss."
Even with the season-ending loss and Tufts' absence from the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, the 2009 campaign should still be considered a success.
"We would have liked to go the NCAA Tournament, but what's done is done, and that didn't happen," sophomore forward Alix Michael said. "Everyone would say that we were less than satisfied with being in the semis and not getting to the NCAA Tournament, which is what we were striving for, but that's sports."
The Jumbos finished their regular season with an 8-7-1 overall record and a 4-4-1 mark in regular-season conference play, earning them fourth place in the NESCAC and a first-round home game for the NESCAC Tournament. A 2-1 victory over Trinity in that game propelled Tufts to the conference semifinal, which it failed to reach last year. Despite falling short of its goal of making NCAAs, the team believes that this year's squad was a vast improvement over last year's.
"I think we're more cohesive this year as a team as compared to last year, and we seem to bind together a lot better on the field," Michael said.
The increased cohesiveness on the field was in large part due to the fact that the squad featured almost the same roster as the year before; the Jumbos only graduated one player in 2008.
"I think our quality of play continued to rise," O'Connor said. "We're all used to playing with each other since we had a year under our belt and only lost one senior last year."
Back in September, the season started with a tough 2-1 loss to Middlebury in overtime. The early portion of the year, especially the team's slate of non-conference games, was marked by flashes of brilliance but overall inconsistency: The Jumbos racked up inspiring wins over tough Wheaton and Keene State teams but also suffered frustrating losses to weaker Babson and Brandeis squads.
The team finally hit its stride in the middle portion of the season, going 4-1-1 in a six-game stretch in mid-October. During that span, senior co-captain forward Whitney Hardy started to find her individual scoring groove, netting six of her team-leading seven goals. Other leading scorers on the season included fellow senior co-captain forward Cara Cadigan, who had three goals and a team-high four assists after coming back from an ACL injury that sidelined her for most of the 2008 season; Michael, who contributed four goals and an assist; O'Connor, who tallied four assists of her own; and junior defender Sarah Nolet, who tallied three goals and an assist.
Despite the impressive statistics, the offense lost its rhythm in the final two regular-season games, back-to-back 1-0 losses to Williams and Bowdoin. During the two games, it was the Jumbo defense — composed of Nolet, juniors Audrey Almy and Carrie Wilson, and sophomore Cleo Hirsch — that kept Tufts close, especially in the Oct. 24 loss to the Ephs, who were 13-0-0 at the time.
With the knowledge that they could play with anyone, the Jumbos headed into the NESCAC semifinals with confidence in their abilities.
"We knew what we had to do, and we knew that if we kept the ball on the ground and played our game, we could have a chance against them," O'Connor said. "When we drove at them, we could be really dangerous."
The second go-around against Williams was played at a completely different tempo than the first, but Williams again proved victorious in the second matchup, ending the Jumbos' season.
"Obviously we were disappointed, and we wanted to continue our season, but there's nothing you can do about the situation now," Michael said. "We all banded together at the end of the game and ended it as a team. It was disappointing, but it is what it is."
As they look towards next year, the Jumbos know they must overcome the loss of six seniors, including goalie Kate Minnehan and five players that combined to score 18 of the team's 22 goals between the regular season and playoffs.
"We're losing six seniors, and that'll be a huge blow to the team not only on the field, but also because we're really close as a group off the field," Michael said. "Every single one of those girls brings a certain element to the team that no one else does."
Despite the loss of those key players, the Jumbos know that with the players they have returning and an influx of new players coming to the hill, 2010 should be another successful season and very likely another year of improvement.
"[The seniors] will all be missed in their own way, but I know our coaches have been doing a lot of heavy recruiting, and we'll have a lot of freshmen coming in with a lot of fresh blood up top since most of the seniors graduating are forwards," O'Connor said.
Taking a step back and considering the 2009 season as a whole, both Michael and O'Connor are proud but unsatisfied — the latter sentiment being one that should inspire them to ensure that the results next season match the its talent level.
"We were definitely capable of making it further, so it's still a little bit disappointing," O'Connor said. "But I think we had a great year, and we were a much better team than our record shows."
