Amherst has been a thorn in the women's lacrosse team's side in the past, twice dispatching the Jumbos in past NESCAC first-round encounters. But the top-seeded Jumbos finally had their way Sunday, turning a first-half deficit into a 14-11 victory with one of their best second-half performances of the season to advance to the second round of the NESCAC Tournament for the first time in program history.
"We all went into today's game knowing what was at stake and really excited and ready," senior Courtney Thomas said. "It's great to come out on top."
Outshot 13-8 in the first half, the Jumbos entered the break down by just a goal at 5-4, thanks in large part to an outstanding six-save half by sophomore goalie Sara Bloom. Outdrawn and losing the groundball battle in the first half, the Jumbos needed to make a change if they wanted to keep their record-breaking season going. That came in a big way once the second half got underway.
Just over a minute into the period, sophomore scoring and points leader Amanda Roberts cashed in on a feed from senior co-captain Chrissie Attura to knot the score at five apiece. The goal was the second of four times that the Attura-Roberts combo found the back of the net, with Attura contributing four assists and Roberts six goals in the contest. More importantly, though, it was the beginning of the game's turning point.
Over the next 10 minutes, the Jumbos struck four more times without any response from the Lord Jeffs, building a 9-5 lead by the 18:47 mark with contributions coming from freshman Lara Kozin, junior Jenna Abelli, Thomas and Roberts again. Second only to Roberts, Abelli notched five goals in the game, while Thomas and Kozin netted two and one, respectively.
"We hadn't been having much success with our shot selection [in the first half]," Roberts said. "In the second half, we sped things up and started to take control of the ball."
"We're a team that doesn't give up," Thomas added. "We're confident and know we're a good team, and we knew that we could do it -- and it paid off."
With a four-goal cushion, all the Jumbos had to do was play defense and hold on, familiar territory for the home squad which, in its first contest of the season, carried a four-goal lead against Amherst into the final eight minutes of play before emerging with an 11-9 victory.
After a quiet five minutes following the Jumbos' five-goal surge, the Jeffs began to rally, cutting the lead in half with tallies by senior quad-captain Amy Craig and freshman Allie Horwitz coming just 15 seconds apart.
But the Jumbos were quick to respond, as Thomas and Roberts got in a one-two punch of their own to retake the four-goal lead at 11-7 with 10:49 to play. Just a minute later, the lead was back to two, as Craig and senior quad-captain Mary Noonan added two quick ones to make it an 11-9 game.
Over the final nine minutes, the teams went blow for blow, with Roberts notching two more scores and Craig tallying her team-leading fifth goal. The Jumbos, who outscored the Jeffs 10-6 and outshot them 13-10, were the dominant second-half team, also taking control in both the groundball and draw control columns.
"It was really hot out there, and that affected both teams," Abelli said. "We had no change in strategy [for the second half]. We just had to regroup and refocus for the half."
"We had to work for every minute of it, which makes it that much sweeter," Roberts said. "[Coach Carol Rappoli] told us, 'This is going to be the hardest 30 minutes of the season so far.' No one was ready for the season to be over yet."
Crucial for the Jumbos was the play of their netminder Bloom, who came up with a nine-save performance, and their ability to capitalize on free position shots, which they did on five of six attempts. The Jeffs, in contrast, scored on just three of their six free tries.
The win not only marks the first time the Jumbos have advanced past the first round of the NESCAC Tournament after failing to do so in their previous four appearances, but it also means that they will now be hosting the conference semifinals and finals this weekend as the highest-ranked team left in the tournament. The win was also Tufts' 14th of the season, the most by any squad in program history.
"The team has really progressed in the three years I've been here," Abelli said. "It's just great to be on such a talented team."
The come-from-behind win was the second in a row for the Jumbos, who closed out the regular season on Friday with a 13-7 win over Bowdoin to lock up their No. 1 tournament seed and home-field advantage. Down 4-1 midway through the first half, the Jumbos rallied to knot the score at 6-6 before the intermission. Tufts then outscored its opponent 7-1 in another display of second-half dominance, with six different players each contributing two goals on the game.
"It's huge that we've come back from two huge deficits," Roberts said. "It's really hard for teams to come back from behind, and coming back twice with big wins has really boosted our confidence."
That confidence will be a major asset for the Jumbos when they take to the field again on Saturday. Along with No. 2 Colby and No. 3 Middlebury, who emerged with comfortable victories in their respective first-round contests with Wesleyan and Bates, No. 5 Williams eked out a 15-13 win over No. 4 Trinity to secure a spot in the second round of the tournament. As the lowest-remaining seed, the Ephs are slotted to take on the Jumbos in Saturday's semifinals; they are an opponent that the Jumbos will need every bit of skill and confidence to overcome.
Williams handed Tufts its only loss of the season with a 15-13 decision in a tight affair back on March 21, and the Jumbos have lost every contest against the Ephs since 1995. If anything, though, the Jumbos figure to enter the contest with extra motivation to come out on top this time.
"When you come this far in the NESCACs, any team can show up and win any day," Abelli said. "The fact that [Williams] beat us earlier in the season gives us an advantage because of that extra motivation. We're really pumped to go out there and show them what we have."
