The women's lacrosse team, ranked No. 7 in the nation, climbed off the bus in Middletown, Conn. Saturday expecting a tight game against the Wesleyan Cardinals. The Cardinals notched the first goal early on, hoping to establish the tone, but minutes later, the game was all but over as Tufts established a tone of its own.
The Jumbos went on a five-goal spree in a span of 3:32 in the first half to take a 5-1 lead just 10 minutes into the game and essentially clip the Cardinals before they had a chance to take flight.
"All NESCAC games are real close due to the competitive nature of the conference," senior Courtney Thomas said. "We were treating this game from the beginning to the end with the mentality that one takes into any tough, heated game."
After moving out to an early four-goal lead in the first quarter, Tufts steadily continued to overmatch Wesleyan, extending its advantage to 14-4 at halftime. Despite the 18 combined goals scored by both teams in the first half, it took both squads just over 12 minutes to find the net again during the second half as the Jumbos attempted to slow the game down.
Tufts scored the next two goals, pushing the lead to the largest of the game at 16-4 with 10:08 remaining. Wesleyan would answer with a couple tallies in the closing moments but hardly made a dent in the deficit, with the final score at 17-6.
"Coach [Carol Rappoli] had given us a few days off, and it showed that we were well-rested and mentally focused," freshman Kelly Hyland said. "We used a high-pressure defense while maintaining composure to handle Wesleyan's driving attack while, on the offensive end, we played smart with high-percentage shots and solid midfield transitions to handle their zone."
Leading Tufts with five goals on the day was Thomas, raising her season total to 14. Senior co-captain Chrissie Attura garnered six points with two goals and four assists as she rose to the top of the team's scoring list with 24 points on eight goals and 16 assists. Sophomore Amanda Roberts, last season's scoring and points leader, scored two goals of her own to put her in a tie with junior Emily Johnson for the team high of 18. In the scoring barrage, freshman Emily Pillemer netted her first collegiate goal as well. Starting goalie sophomore Sara Bloom made nine saves during her 50 minutes in the cage for the Jumbos while freshman Alexis Germain, taking the reins for the final 10 minutes, finished with three stops.
Wesleyan had six different goal-scorers in the game but was led in points by sophomore Allie Lynch, who had three on three assists.
The all-time record between the two teams now rests at 27-5 in favor of Tufts. In the previous seven contests, the games had remained relatively tight, with each of them decided by three or fewer goals. The Jumbos improved to 5-1 with the win, their only loss coming 15-13 to Williams in last week's contest, while Wesleyan fell under .500 to 3-4.
"After we lost to Williams, we really wanted to regroup and pull everything back together in this one; we were looking to show everyone the strength of this team," Thomas said. "There was good play on both ends, with the entire team meshing rather nicely. We work well together, and at this point in the season it seems that everyone is contributing well."
The Jumbos are currently locked in a four-way tie for first place in the NESCAC with Colby, Trinity and Middlebury. Tufts already beat Colby earlier in the year, avenging the Jumbos' first-round loss in last year's NESCAC Tournament.
The Jumbos will next travel to Bates to play the Bobcats this Wednesday. Bates comes in with a 2-2 conference record, but last year it matched up with Tufts in one of the closest games of the entire year, with the Jumbos trailing 9-6 in the second half before pulling out a 13-12 victory.
