Tufts field hockey, ranked No. 3 in the NESCAC, beat No. 6 Amherst in a nail-biting 2–1 quarterfinal victory on Saturday to advance to the conference semifinals. After a 1–1 draw in regulation time, the game remained undecided after two periods of overtime. During shootouts, the Jumbos won 3–0, their second shootout victory in a row. Junior goalie Lydia Eastburn’s impressive defense performance played a crucial role in the Tufts victory and led her to be named NESCAC Player of the Week.
In early October, Tufts defeated Amherst 2–1 on the road. “Going into the NESCAC quarterfinal game, we used what we learned from playing Amherst in the regular season to prepare,” Eastburn wrote in an email to the Daily.
“Amherst is a strong team and we knew that we needed to come out with energy and have high intensity for the entire game,” Eastburn wrote. Sure enough, the team managed to play with intensity for all of regulation time, both rounds of overtime and shootouts.
The game remained scoreless until junior forward Hannah Biccard scored the first goal of the game with four minutes and 18 seconds remaining in the first quarter. On a fast break, junior defender/midfielder Gabby Sousa passed the ball to Biccard who was able to beat the defender and send the ball into the back of the cage, giving the Jumbos a 1–0 lead.
Despite this lead, the game remained evenly matched and unresolved until the last minute of the fourth quarter. Throughout the game, control of possession fluctuated between the two teams, both defenses remaining impenetrable, giving up only a few fruitless penalty corners. In this time, Tufts outshot Amherst 9–6, Amherst having no shots during the second and third quarters.
However, Amherst was determined to continue their season going into the final quarter of regulation. In the fourth quarter, Amherst outshot Tufts 6–3. Amherst pulled their goalie with five minutes and three seconds left for an additional field player. This strategy proved successful as the Mammoths were able to push the ball into the Jumbos’ defensive end and earned a penalty corner with 41 seconds left in the quarter. While Tufts’ defense managed to deny a goal, they gave up another penalty corner during this play. Despite a save by Eastburn, the Jumbo defense gave up yet another penalty corner.
With 19 seconds left, the Mammoths were on their third corner in a row, taken by senior defender Kate Smith. Junior midfielder Isa Lattuada managed a shot at the top of the circle, which was deflected into the cage by first-year forward Caroline Busler. Amherst had prolonged their season with just 14 seconds remaining in regulation.
Once regulation time had expired, the game moved onto two 10-minute periods of seven v. seven overtime. Tufts dominated possession and did not allow any penalty corners; however, the game remained undecided. Toward the end of the second overtime period, the Jumbos also had three consecutive corners which they were unable to convert.
The game was to be decided by a shootout, making it the Jumbos’ second game to go into a shootout that week. Just last Tuesday, the Jumbos went into a shootout against the Polar Bears in their last regular season game. They won the shootout 3–2 for a 3–2 victory. This was the first time Tufts had a game go into a shootout since November 2018 in an NCAA Elite 8 contest victory against Salisbury University.
“The whole team mindset going into overtime and shootout was very confident as we play overtime and shootout often in practice,” Eastburn said. She added that the team felt properly prepared by the coaching staff for situations like these.
Eastburn also said the shootout victory against Bowdoin four days prior had helped her prepare.
“I personally have never had to do a shootout in an actual game before, so going into Amherst having the experience under my belt greatly boosted my confidence. That confidence allowed me to be calm in cage and focus on the eight second play in front of me,” Eastburn wrote. “The team cheering as a whole gave me great confidence.”
Eastburn’s confidence and calmness were evident as she stepped into the cage and denied all of Amherst’s scoring attempts. Due to her impeccable goaltending, the Mammoths were
unable to respond to the Jumbos’ three goals scored by graduate student midfielder Andrea DelGuidice, senior forward Kylie Rosenquest and finally first-year forward Hannah Murray. After 80 suspenseful minutes of play and shootouts, the Jumbos emerged victorious.
Overall, shots on goal finished 14–4 and penalty corners finished 9–5, both favoring Tufts.
Tufts will move on to the NESCAC semifinals against second-seeded Williams College at Middlebury College on Saturday. Williams was one of Tufts’ two losses in the regular season, as the Jumbos lost 1–0 on a fourth quarter Williams goal.
This was not the only conference quarterfinal game that was decided by a shootout — No. 5 Bates College defeated No. 4 Wesleyan University 2–1 after a 3–2 shootout win. Bates will play No.1 Middlebury College, the reigning NESCAC champions, for a spot in the championship game Sunday against either Williams or Tufts.
