On Saturday, No. 2 seed Tufts women’s soccer competed in the NESCAC semifinals versus No. 4 seed Amherst College in Middletown, Conn. The Jumbos had come away with a 2–1 win against the Mammoths earlier in the season. Going into the game, Tufts held a 13–2–1 record while Amherst held a 10–1–5 record.
“We were really working on switching the point of attack quickly, and overall, just maintaining the basics of how we play and compete,” sophomore forward Waverly Sumner wrote in an email to the Daily about the Jumbos’ preparation for the game.
To begin the game, the Jumbos quickly got possession of the ball and got a shot off within the first minute of the game, but they were unable to maintain possession as the first half played out to be competitive and evenly matched.
“We wanted to play our style of play and get our second win against Amherst because we had a strong and clean performance against them in the regular NESCAC season,” Sumner wrote.
Twelve minutes in, however, the Mammoths were able to capitalize on a free kick opportunity and take a 1–0 lead. Mammoth midfielder Alyssa Huynh lobbed a free kick into the Tufts penalty box and to the feet of forward Patience Kum, who was able to tap the ball just past the Jumbos’ goalkeeper.
Even with Amherst leading early in the game, Tufts still maintained a supportive and optimistic atmosphere. “We always emphasize being positive and thoughtful to each other, even in tough and emotionally charged situations, so I feel like there was a strong sense of belief and positive talk during the game even when we went down a goal,” Sumner wrote.
The Jumbos’ positivity appeared effective when, in the 20th minute, they were able to end the Mammoths’ lead with a goal of their own. When a ball by Amherst was misplayed into open space, Sumner took advantage of their mistake, and sent a shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. With the game tied back up at 1–1, both teams upped their intensity.
Despite both teams’ best efforts, the half ended with no more goals from either side. After an extremely competitive half in which the Mammoths put up seven shots and the Jumbos put up only one fewer, the team had much to discuss at halftime. “We knew they were going to come out hard after half as we were tied, so we just talked about winning 50-50s, keeping our composure and converting more chances while keeping it clean out of the back,” Sumner wrote on the Jumbos’ thinking at halftime.
In the second half, both sides came out with a newfound energy, but the Mammoths appeared to be dominating possession. In the first 25 minutes of the second half, the Mammoths took seven shots, as many as they took in the entire first half. The Jumbos worked to keep the Mammoths away from their net, but 71 minutes in, the Mammoths took the lead once again with their eighth shot. Similar to the first goal, the sequence began with a Mammoth free kick into the Jumbos’ penalty box, which defender Sophia Haynes was able to control and fire into the Jumbos’ net. Midfielder Brooke Ingemi got the assist.
Both teams got multiple shots off during the rest of the half but the Mammoths were just able to keep the Jumbos from tying the game up again. The 90 minutes came to a close with Amherst up 2–1.
“Our games against Amherst are always extremely competitive because we both have very similar styles of play, so it feels like a battle every time to see who’s going to take the game, and it just happened to be them this time,” Sumner wrote about the loss.
Although their loss to the Mammoths ended the Jumbos’ NESCAC playoff run, the team qualified for and is now heading into the NCAA Division III women’s soccer playoffs. Their first game of the tournament will be played against Rowan University on Saturday at William Smith College.
“Our mentality after this loss was very much that we just needed to clean sheet and leave it in its place, and that this is just going to be our only loss for the next six games. It was a game we could have got down about and fixated on, but I think the mentality was more about thinking of NCAAs as a brand-new season and a chance for a fresh start and being proud of the work we put in in NESCACs even though it was a frustrating loss,” Sumner wrote.
