Overtime thriller keeps Tufts over .500

No. 11 Tufts improved to 7-2 overall (3-2 in the NESCAC) on Saturday after defeating Conn. College 11-10 in overtime. Despite wind and snow, the Jumbos were able to score the last three goals in regulation to force overtime, in which first-year midfielder Calie Nowak scored the game-winning goal on a free position shot.

“You can’t ever underestimate a NESCAC opponent," sophomore defender Casey Briody said. "I think everyone is a competitor this year especially; it’s a very equal playing field this year.”

The Jumbos let up two goals in the game's first five minutes before clamping down on defense.Neither team scored again until senior midfielder Lindsey Walker scored her first goal to put Tufts on the board at 15:09 in the first half. Walker would score three more times, all in the second half and all unassisted.

“Lindsey Walker was like the queen of that game," Briody said. "She really just pulled through when we needed her to and she just stepped up big time. She had a couple goals that were obviously crucial ... they were huge momentum changers.”

The Camels' scoring was far more evenly distributed than that of the Jumbos. Senior midfielder Cecily Cushman scored thrice, the only player to net more than one for the Camels. The Jumbos boasted only four scorers, but behind Walker's four, junior tri-captain attacker Caroline Ross' three, Nowak's two and junior midfielder Brigid Bowser's two, the Jumbos' attack was prolific.

The Jumbos fell behind 5-2 in the first half, and despite outplaying the Camels in the second half 6-3, they failed to claim a lead until the game-winning goal in overtime.

First-year midfielder Tori Rudnicki is proud of the team's fighting mentality, yet she admits that the team's slow start has been a recurring problem.

“Something that we really struggled with in our losses to Colby and Trinity was that we would get down in the game and lose our motivation and give up almost, but we really showed resiliency against Conn.," she said. "We were down for the whole first half and we still found a way to pull it out and win. No one gave up, and we believed in ourselves the whole time.”

Both Rudnicki and Briody pointed to chemistry as a major factor in the team's success this year. Rudnicki said the team's traditional "psych factors" before games helped to get everyone's energy up. Her favorite such practice was breaking open a horse piñata before a game against the Colby Mules.

"I feel like I could go to any one person with anything," Rudnicki said. "I think that’s a part of why our team is so great, on the field especially, because we connect so well off of it. From the beginning I’ve felt loved and supported. Everyone just wants to see you do well, so for a first-year, it hasn’t been hard in that sense.”

Briody echoed her sentiments and explained that her main focus was supporting her teammates.

"The girls on my team are such a big part of why I play," she said. "It’s not really about winning a national championship, although that [would be] great, it’s more just like being with the girls I’m with.”

Earlier last week, Tufts defeated Bates 17-9 on Wednesday on the road, dominating the first half to the tune of 11-3 despite letting up the first goal of the game. After Bates first-year midfielder Ashton Chryssicas scored at 23:21 in the first half to bring the score to 3-2 in favor of Tufts, the home team failed to score for a full 20 minutes. The Jumbos had found the back of the net eight times by then. Ross paced the Jumbos with four goals, while senior attacker Kali DiGate and first-year midfielder Taylor Meek each scored three.

“I think our team is happy with how [the season] is going so far," Briody said. "We’ve had a couple of tough losses, a couple heartbreaks, but at the same time I think we are going in the direction that we want to be going in. Like everybody else, we’re trying to win NESCACs; we’re trying to win a national championship. We’re definitely a strong competitor, so with our record so far we’ve been doing pretty well I’d say.”

Coming up, Tufts has a rematch at No. 16 Williams on Wednesday, the team that ended the Jumbos' season last year in the NESCAC playoffs.