The women's lacrosse team faces Bowdoin this afternoon looking to not only end the regular season on a high note, but to secure a first−round home game in the NESCAC tournament that begins on Sunday.
Tufts went into last year's NESCACs as the No. 1 seed in the league, beating Amherst 14−11 in the first round before a heartbreaking second−round overtime loss to Williams, which went on to lose to Colby 12−10 in the championship game.
Going into this afternoon's matchup versus Bowdoin, Tufts is tied with Amherst for fourth place. Bowdoin, meanwhile, is tied for second with the defending NESCAC champion Mules, while everyone trails 7−1 Trinity. With all 10 NESCAC teams playing conference games today, no team's postseason fate is locked in for sure, except for the winless Wesleyan Cardinals missing out on a playoff spot.
"It's very complicated because all of the teams have such close and crazy records this year," freshman Kaitlyn Leidl said. "We have to beat Bowdoin in order to have a home game on Sunday because that would keep us in the top four. If we beat them, both of us will be 6−3, but we will be the higher seed — hopefully third place — because we beat them earlier in the season. If we beat Bowdoin, we will most likely play the winner of Friday's Williams−Middlebury game, and if we lose, we'll probably face Amherst."
The team is not focused, however, on the logistics of the seeding or on the different possibilities of how the games could turn out. Instead, the Jumbos are trying to concentrate on being motivated to win every game, no matter who the opponent is.
"The thing about the NESCACs is that any team can beat any other team in the league. It's not important who we play, and so there's no specific team that we want to go up against," senior co−captain Jenna Abelli said. "The tournament is so important that it doesn't even matter much to us if we're playing at home or not. It would be nice to go into the tournament as a higher seed but being at home wouldn't actually be a huge advantage. The game itself is what matters and we're going to play with the same amount of intensity and preparation either way."
Two of the three losses that Tufts earned this season came in early−season contests against Amherst and Colby. The Jumbos then put together a nine−game winning streak before suffering their third loss of the year against Middlebury last Saturday. The team hopes to use those losses to fuel its fire for the tournament, particularly if it sees Colby, Amherst or Middlebury as an opponent.
"Our team has really improved since the beginning of the season when we lost our first two games to Amherst and Colby," Abelli said. "We would be a totally different team playing them now, so we would love to have a chance to play them again. The Middlebury loss was a wake−up call for us because we'd won so many games in a row before that. It'll definitely give us more motivation in the tournament."
The Jumbos are still confident about their chances for the weekend. Tufts is the only team to have beaten Trinity this season, against whom the Jumbos prevailed 11−9 in Hartford on April 10. If the Jumbos play like they did against the Bantams, they believe they can beat any other team in the highly−competitive NESCAC.
"We played a great game that day," senior Emily Johnson said. "It's a confidence booster for us to know that we're the only team that has beaten them. It goes to show you that every NESCAC game is going to be a competitive one. We can beat any team if we play our best game."
After last year's frustrating conclusion, the Jumbos are hopeful that this is the year they will finally make it to the NESCAC championship game for the first time. But once Sunday comes around, there will be no second chances, as a loss would send Tufts out of the Tournament.
"We have to approach the games with more urgency," Johnson said. "We need to win. If we lose, our season's done and no one wants that."
