Since losing their home opener to Colby College to start off their 2022 campaign, Tufts women’s lacrosse won five games in a row.
While most of their spring vacation consisted of traveling on buses for hours, lacrosse practices and games, the Brown and Blue held onto their top 10 national ranking and won each game by at least a four-goal differential. In their most recent game against No. 18 ranked Trinity College (Conn.), the Jumbos displayed their dominance on both sides of the ball, holding the Bantams to five goals while netting 13, securing the victory.
The first period was all credited to senior midfielder Anna Clarke, who went ballistic by scoring an unassisted hat trick in the span of 15 minutes. The Bantams bottomed two goals of their own throughout the period keeping the score a close 3–2 in favor of the Jumbos.
Clarke, a Division III Preseason first-team All-American, noted the holes she saw in Trinity’s defense.
“Their defense wasn’t necessarily making the adjustments that could have been made to stop our motion. And so, I just found myself in the driving position on those first three goals,” Clarke said.
Tufts broke away in the second half as they hunkered down defensively and increased their offensive output by scoring five unanswered goals. Freshman midfielder Caroline Conaghan led the charge with a free position shot to put the Jumbos up by 2. Sophomore midfielder Madeline Delaney, freshman attacker Margie Carden and senior attacker Mae Briody all got in on the action while Conaghan went for another goal to bring the total score to 8–2 by the end of the second.
Clarke described this change of momentum in favor of Tufts.
“I think we were trusting each other, trusting our one versus one defense, sending the slides when we needed to and executed our game plan pretty perfectly, which was exciting to see,” Clarke said.
The third period looked like the first 15 minutes of the game as the Jumbos scored three times while the Bantams netted two goals. Carden and midfielders Sami Rothstein and Grace Frerichs, a junior and sophomore, respectively, all combined for the three goals, giving Tufts an 11–4 lead.
The Tufts team contained players across all four class years that got playing time. This effort to involve such a large roster and the ability of the younger players to contribute heavily has been a major strength for this team. Clarke believes that everyone on the team has been given the confidence to play well.
“I think whether you’re a senior or whether you’re a freshman and you’re on the field, we all have each other’s backs,” Clarke said.
The final period featured the least action as Tufts scored two times and Trinity managed to net one goal. The Jumbos outscored their opponents in every period of this game, and two players, Carden and Clarke, scored hat tricks. Carden’s third goal came in the last second of the game off an assist from sophomore attacker Lucy Hodge. Carden continues to build on her incredible freshman season as the Jumbos keep winning.
Clarke likes the direction her team is moving in, but she still needs to see more as the season progresses if they are to make a deep playoff run.
“I think, as a team, we haven’t played our best game of lacrosse yet, which I think is an exciting thing,” Clarke said.
The Jumbos next play on Wednesday, March 30 against MIT, as they look to maintain their win streak.
