This past weekend, women's soccer hit Bello Field for a NESCAC double header, beating Bates 3–0 on Saturday and losing to Hamilton 1–0 on Sunday. With the weekend's games split, Tufts’ overall record now stands at 5–3 and 3–2 in conference play.
During Sunday’s game against the Hamilton Continentals, the Jumbos suffered a tough loss of 1–0, giving the Continentals an undefeated 5–0–2 NESCAC record, the best in the league.
“The team was not in the highest of spirits after the second game against Hamilton," junior midfielder Maddie Pero said. "That is certainly a game we could have won, and everyone knows we have the talent to win big games like that.”
Tufts outplayed Hamilton, attempting 19 shots in the two halves, four of which were on goal, while the Continentals only had six shots and two on goal. During the first half, the Jumbos scored two called-back goals due to offsides violations. However, the team continued to push through with many shots from Pero, junior midfielder Margaux Ameer, senior midfielder and co-captain Lily Sykes and senior midfielder and co-captain Stephanie DiLeo. Unfortunately, none of them could secure a goal for the Jumbos.
The only goal of the game came just over 40 minutes into play from Hamilton junior forward Ashlyn Gaulin, who was assisted by first-year forward Olivia Zubarik. Despite a total of 12 shots in the second half, neither team found the back of the net, resulting in the final score of 1–0 in favor of the Continentals.
The day before the Hamilton game, on Saturday, Tufts shut out the Bates Bobcats 3–0, which came after a disappointing 3–1 loss to Wesleyan on Sept. 28. In the Bates game, two of the Jumbos’ co-captains combined for the team's first goal of the game. DiLeo headed a ball to Sykes who tapped the ball right into the back left corner of the net. Following up, in the 24th minute, Pero scored her first in-conference goal of the season, which super senior midfielder Hannah Isenhart assisted.
“I was definitely very excited to score my first in-conference goal this season,” Pero said. “But [I] really credit [Sykes] for having the awareness to play a quick free-kick and [Isenhart] for delivering a beautiful ball into the box that made my life so easy. All I had to do was redirect it towards the goal because [Isenhart's] cross was perfectly driven.”
The Jumbos put the cherry on top with their third goal in the second half. Super senior forward and co-captain Liz Reed sent the fourth corner kick over to DiLeo, allowing her to send the ball into the top left of the net with such speed that Bates' senior goalkeeper Kat Nuckols couldn’t even react. In the 84th minute, Tufts junior goalkeeper Kaelin Logue secured the shutout by saving the Bobcats’ only corner kick of the game.
Logue played the complete doubleheader this weekend and only let one goal in out of three shots on goal between the two games. The Jumbos’ goalkeeper is using the split games to fuel her fire for their next away doubleheader this upcoming weekend.
“I think this upcoming weekend will be a pivotal point in our season,” Logue said. “We’re all definitely disappointed in not getting the result we wanted against Hamilton and need to use that frustration to ensure we get two wins this weekend. I think this team has a lot of potential and is a great group of people.”
The Jumbos will play two away, in-conference games this weekend. Saturday’s competition will be at Trinity against the Bantams, and Sunday’s will be up in Vermont against the Middlebury Panthers. The Jumbos will look to improve on their NESCAC record as they enter the second half of their season.
