Spending the weekend on the road for a NESCAC doubleheader, Tufts women's soccer suffered two heartbreaking losses to Trinity and Middlebury. On Saturday, Tufts traveled to Connecticut to take on the Trinity Bantams, where a hard-fought game resulted in a 1–0 loss for the Jumbos. The next day, the team made its way up to Vermont to face the Middlebury Panthers for a back-and-forth game that was eventually sent into overtime, ultimately ending in a 2–1 loss. The Jumbos are now 5–5 overall on the season and 3–4 in conference play.
Middlebury also played in two conference games this weekend, defeating Bates 2–0 on Saturday prior to facing Tufts on Sunday. The Jumbos were able to get on the scoreboard first at the 22nd minute mark when first-year defender Jordan Cushner sent a cross in from the left side to sophomore forward Nic Sommers. Sommers headed the ball to the feet of graduate student forward and co-captain Liz Reed, who fired a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar and went into the goal. Reed now leads the team with eight goals this season, and Sommers tallied her first career assist.
The Jumbos had a couple more solid offensive opportunities in the first half, and defensively were able to keep their 1–0 lead. In the second half, the Panthers scored off of a free kick from 40 yards out that was settled in the box and sent to Middlebury’s Eliza Van Voorhis, who one-touched the ball into the goal to tie the game up.
Tufts had many close opportunities to put them ahead later in the second half, but the Middlebury defense and goalie Sydney Poppinga shut them down and sent the game into overtime. There were not many shots in the overtime period until Middlebury’s Fanny Lodge crossed the ball in front of the net with less than a minute left. Tufts junior goalie Hayley Bernstein dove and punched the ball out, but knocked it to Middlebury’s Gretchen McGrath who was able to score and give the 2–1 win to the Panthers in the 99th minute of play.
Coming into Saturday's matchup, Trinity women’s soccer was 1–2–1 against NESCAC opponents, with Tufts standing at 3–2. The first half of the game was dominated by Trinity, who maintained possession for the majority of the half and was able to keep Tufts’ offense contained. The lone goal of the game was scored at the 25th minute mark, when Trinity's Hannah Storozuk fired a shot that ended up in the back of the net.
The Jumbos came out of halftime, determined to even out the score, and dominated possession in the second half. In the 66th minute, Tufts senior forward Melina McDevitt had a shot blocked by the Trinity goalkeeper, but quickly regained possession and immediately fired off another attempt that hit the top of the crossbar.Sophomore midfielder Thalia Greenberg also had a great shot from outside the box that unluckily bounced off the left side of the crossbar. Both the Jumbos and the Bantams finished with seven shots and two shots on goal each, but Trinity was able to capitalize its offense in the first half and close the game to secure the 1–0 win.
The Jumbos are back at home on Saturday to take on NESCAC rival Amherst and hope to get back in the win column for the final stretch of the regular season.
