Men's Cross Country
The men's cross country team boasted a deep, talented young squad this fall. The early season was highlighted by a tie for first place out of 19 teams at the Conn. College Invitational on Oct. 16. At the NESCAC Championships in late October, the Jumbos took third as rising junior Matt Rand earned All-NESCAC honors. After Rand came the tightest pack in Tufts history, with a mere 16 seconds separating the team's second and seventh man. Tufts was the only squad to have nine runners in the top 50. The next weekend, the squad's depth was on display once again with its second group of seven athletes finishing fourth out of 44 teams at the ECAC Championship.
At the New England Div. III Championships, the Jumbos took home eighth, a finish that dashed their hopes of earning a team bid to the NCAA Championships. With such parity across the region, the eighth-place finish was just 17 points out of fourth place — the final spot that would have earned the team a bid to nationals. Rand and rising junior Kyle Marks led the squad at regionals, both earning All-Region honors. Marks was one of seven competitors from New England to earn an individual NCAA berth, and the following weekend he took 64th at the national race. With only one junior and one senior on its regionals squad of seven, a young team will return more experienced next year to try to top a strong 2010 season.
Women's Cross Country
Starting the season off with a little uncertainty, the women's cross country team was able to pull things together down the stretch. The team's top returner, graduating senior co-captain Amy Wilfert missed much of training during the summer due to hamstring problems, and her ability to compete at a high level was questionable. As the championship season came around, however, Wilfert found her old form and led the Jumbos to a fifth-place finish at the NESCAC Championships and an eighth-place finish at the New England Regional meet.
Wilfert's leadership, combined with the rise of a talented core of underclassmen, carried the Jumbos to a successful season. While the team was unable to qualify for the NCAA Championships, the young runners give the team great optimism for the future. represented the Jumbos individually at NCAAs, where she placed 50th.
Rising senior Anya Price was the team's second-best runner for most of the season and fought back from a tough race at NESCACs to earn All-Region honors at the Regional meet.
Rising junior Lilly Fisher had a breakout year and was often on Price's heels. Her rise, along with those of rising sophomore standouts Lauren Creath, Laura Peterson and Abby Barker, provided a spark for the team, as well as a great foundation to build upon for several years to come.
Men's Soccer
The Jumbos' first season under new head coach Josh Shapiro saw marked improvement on the 2009 campaign. Tufts lost in the NESCAC quarterfinals to Middlebury, 3-0, capping off a 5-8-2 overall record and a 3-4-2 record in NESCAC play, good for sixth in the conference.
Notable wins included a gripping 2-1 victory over Bates in front of a raucous Homecoming crowd and a 1-0 double-overtime victory at Conn. College, in which graduating senior quad-captain midfielder Ron Coleman's header, with just under three minutes remaining in the second overtime period, all but clinched a postseason berth. In the Homecoming affair against the Bobcats, graduating senior forward Ben Green's brilliant free kick in the 71st minute put Tufts on top for their first Homecoming victory since 2006.
The Jumbos were 1-3-2 in six overtime contests, four of which went to double overtime.
Green led Tufts in scoring with four goals and two assists, which earned him 10 points. Rising junior forward Franco Silva netted three goals for the Jumbos, while rising senior goalie Alan Bernstein, in his first season as a starter, made a number of miraculous saves and held opponents to a .93 goals-against average.
Women's Soccer
Defense didn't win championships for the women's soccer team this past fall, but it did earn the Jumbos their first NESCAC regular-season title since 2005. On the strength of nine shutouts, including eight in their last nine games, Tufts dropped just one match in NESCAC play and finished with 20 points, three points ahead of national quarterfinalist Williams.
But the Jumbos' offensive struggles finally caught up with them in the NESCAC Tournament, as Bates held them to a scoreless draw through 120 minutes. In penalties, each team made two of their first four before the Bobcats slotted home the winner. The final chance went to rising senior midfielder Alix Michael, whose attempt was stopped, ending the team's season.
Despite the premature exit, the Jumbos still had plenty to be proud of this season. Their defense, led by graduating senior co-captain center backs Sarah Nolet and Carrie Wilson, finished ninth in the country in goals against, allowing only .43 per game. On the attacking end, rising senior Jamie Love-Nichols and rising sophomore Maeve Stewart each had four goals on the year, with Love-Nichols chipping in two assists while Michael pulled the strings from the midfield, finishing with three goals and an assist.
Football
In the debut season of the football team's high-powered, no-huddle spread offense, the Jumbos overhauled the record book, shattering numerous program, NESCAC and New England marks. Unfortunately for Tufts, the excitement ended there. Despite leading six of eight games at halftime, the team suffered its first 1-7 season since 1996, winding up in the conference cellar despite boasting a pass offense that, on Oct. 30, 2010, at Amherst, racked up 671 yards of total offense.
In that game, graduating senior Anthony Fucillo became the first quarterback to eclipse the 500-yard passing mark in New England Div. III history, and currently holds program records for single-season passing yards (2,475), completions (215) and passing touchdowns (16), as well as total offense (2,598). But after winning the season-opener against Hamilton, 21-10, Tufts dropped seven straight, including a 21-20 decision on Homecoming to Bates, which snapped a 24-year winning streak against the Bobcats.
At the end of the season, longtime coach Bill Samko announced his departure from the program after just one winning record in the past seven seasons. Former offensive coordinator Jay Civetti took over as the interim head coach, and inherits a young squad that includes All-NESCAC selections Sam Diss, a rising junior cornerback, and rising senior linebacker Ferras Albitar. Graduating senior quad-captain running back Pat Bailey also earned Second Team All-NESCAC honors after leading the conference in receptions.
Field Hockey
The field hockey team had another impressive run into the post-season in the fall. The Jumbos finished No. 6 in the nation at 15-3 and took home the NESCAC regular season title. Yet two of the team's three losses came in the last two games of their season: the NESCAC Championship game against eventual national champion Bowdoin and the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Middlebury. Those defeats marked a bitter end to a campaign that started with nine straight victories and had fans whispering of a potential first-ever national championship. Still, the disappointment should not detract from a team that brought Tufts a plethora of honors and confirmed the Jumbos' presence as a powerhouse in the Div. III field hockey world.
Graduating senior forward Tamara Brown took home NESCAC Player of the Year for a second consecutive season along with first-team All-American honors and will graduate as the program's all-time leading scorer. Brown finished her final season with an average of 1.33 goals per game — good for fifth in Div. III — and will be sorely missed on the Jumbos' front line.
In the backfield, rising senior defender Taylor Dyer took home NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year honors and joined Brown on the All-America First Team. Dyer led the division's fifth-best defense, which posted 10 shutouts and averaged just .72 goals against.
Overall, the team's entire graduating class of 2011 will leave big holes in next season's roster. The team says goodbye to four starters in co-captain and second-team All-American midfielder Amanda Roberts, co-captain midfielder and All-Region selection Jess Perkins, forward Melissa Burke and midfielder Tess Guttadauro.
Volleyball
The women's volleyball season started with high expectations, especially after the squad earned the No. 1 seed in last year's NESCAC Tournament and advanced to the national quarterfinals for the first time in school history. But the Jumbos were struck a crushing blow early in the season when graduating senior quad-captain Dawson Joyce-Mendive, an outside hitter who was named an All-American Honorable Mention as a sophomore, was lost for the season with an ACL injury.
Despite the adversity, the team started the season at a blistering pace, rattling off wins in 14 out of 15 games from Sept. 11 to Oct. 6. The squad was unquestionably led by graduating senior quad-captain Caitlin Updike, who led the NESCAC with 421 kills and was named to the AVCA All-American team as an honorable mention, as well as the All-New England First Team.
Other key contributors were rising senior libero Audrey Kuan, who is also an online editor for the Daily, and rising junior setter Kendall Lord, who were both named to the All-NESCAC team along with Updike.
The Jumbos made a run to the finals of the NESCAC tournament as the No. 4 seed before losing to Middlebury, and then earned a surprising NCAA at-large bid. Although they were knocked out in the first round by Springfield College, the squad can look back with pride on a season in which they fought through rough stretches to still reach the national tournament.
Men's Basketball
The resurgence of the men's basketball team proved to be the story of the winter in Tufts athletics. Finishing at 13-12 as the NESCAC No. 5 seed, the Jumbos posted the first winning season and earned the first conference playoff seed of any of the current players' careers. Nonetheless, Trinity dashed the team's hopes of a Cinderella finish to the season, posting a definitive 70-47 victory over Tufts in the NESCAC Quarterfinals.
Despite the disappointing tournament loss, the 2010-11 campaign overall marked a turning point for a rebuilding program. As tri-captains, graduating seniors Matt Galvin and Sam Mason, as well as rising senior James Long, cultivated a new team atmosphere that holds promise for the future.
"I'm proud of the team and what we were able to accomplish this year with so many people thinking we weren't going to be any good again," Mason told the Daily in late February. "This year we were just barely above .500, but it's a good foundation. I think Galvin and I established a good attitude and work ethic moving forward for the rest of the guys."
The team has a lot to look forward to next year. The Jumbos will return all their top performers, including this year's top four scorers, and welcome an impressive recruiting class that includes Vermont's "Mr. Basketball," Ben Ferris. It seems the years of being dominated by the rest of the NESCAC are over, and Tufts is in prime position to climb even further up the conference ladder next winter.
Women's Basketball
Led by one of the strongest senior classes in program history, the Jumbos entered 2010-11 primed for a successful run. But a series of crippling injuries took their toll on the squad and led to a disappointing NESCAC quarterfinal exit.
Tufts began the season by winning 10 of its first 11 games, led by graduating senior co-captain Colleen Hart and strong starts from rising sophomores Liz Moynihan and Ali Rocchi. But in the closing minutes of a 62-49 win over Bowdoin on Jan. 21, Hart suffered an injury that kept her out for nearly two weeks.
During that period, graduating senior Vanessa Miller and rising senior Collier Clegg stepped up to fill the void — each earning NESCAC Player of the Week honors in the process — but the team dropped three of six and plummeted down the conference standings, forced to settle for a fifth-place finish in the regular season. This led to a matchup with Williams, which came back from eight down with under five minutes to play to knock out Tufts in overtime.
Hart finished her career as the program's all-time leading scorer while earning first-team All-NESCAC accolades for the third straight season. Miller was named the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Ice Hockey
Though the men's hockey team came out of the gates with a 4-2-1 start to the season, from there the wheels came off, as the Jumbos endured a 12-game losing streak and continued to have difficulties against NESCAC opponents. Tufts did have one particularly notable crowning achievement, however: a 3-0 victory over conference power Middlebury Panthers in the season opener, which marked a first for the team's graduating seniors.
Throughout the difficult season, those seniors demonstrated their leadership, and their patience, at the helm of a young squad. With 11 goals and 21 assists, graduating senior quad-captain forward Tom Derosa led the Jumbos in points for his third straight year.
Additionally, the Jumbos' youngest players showed promise, hinting at a successful future for coach Brian Murphy's squad. Kyle Gallegos, a rising sophomore forward from Colorado, led the team in goals with 15 and finished second in scoring. The Jumbos will look to him as a spark plug and a playmaker in future seasons.
The Jumbos suffered a key loss early when rising senior goalkeeper Scott Barchard, a quad-captain and Div. III All-American, injured his ankle in a Nov. 27, 3-3 tie against Brockport. Classmate Evin Koleini filled in for the remainder of the season, finishing with a .887 save percentage and gaining valuable in-game experience.
Men's Squash
The men's squash team, plagued by the graduation of more than half of its starters from a year ago, suffered through one of its worst seasons since coach Doug Eng took control of the program 15 years ago. The No. 27 Jumbos finished the 2010-11 campaign 9-16 overall and just 1-6 in NESCAC play, including three consecutive losses in the NESCAC Tournament.
Despite its goal of remaining in the Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) C-division, Tufts fell into the D-division at the CSA Team Championships on Feb. 25. In their final match of the tournament, the Jumbos knocked off No. 29 Georgetown, 5-4, to secure third place in one of the team's most exciting and competitive matches of the season.
Another highlight for Tufts was the play of graduating senior captain Alex Gross, who has held the team's No. 1 spot for the past three seasons. Gross finished his illustrious collegiate career with 45 individual wins and ended his stint at Tufts with a 1-2 performance at the CSA Individual Championships on March 4.
Women's Squash
The women's squash team ended its season on a high note with two consecutive upset wins in the Epps Cup D-division of the Walker Cup, finishing 21st overall in the tournament. To end the season, Tufts beat Colby after losing to the Mules twice earlier in the season on Jan. 28 and Feb. 5. Rising senior Alix Michael at the No. 1 spot on the ladder was key to the tournament victory, managing to win a close five-game match against Colby's Kate Pistel after previously falling to her in three games in both January and February. Tufts showed further improvement towards the end of the season when they beat Vassar after losing the two teams' first meeting 6-3 in February.
The Jumbos' only other NESCAC wins came twice 6-3 against Conn. College. Tufts also plowed through Boston area opponents Boston College and Northeastern with 7-2 and 9-0 victories, respectively.
Graduating senior co-captain Valerie Koo and rising senior co-captain Mercedes Barba led the team to a No. 24 ranking and an overall season record of 9-14. Koo was a major player and leader for the team, and ultimately earned NESCAC All-Conference second-team honors for a second consecutive season. She won ten matches this season all at the No. 2 spot on the ladder, and is one of just six players in the NESCAC to be a repeat All-Conference selection.
Men's Swimming and Diving
The men's swimming and diving team placed third at the NESCAC Championships and 20th at NCAAs to cap a successful 2010-11 season. The Jumbos cracked the top three at the conference meet for the sixth straight season and sent seven swimmers and divers to Tennessee for Nationals, where all seven earned All-American honors.
Rising sophomore diver Johann Schmidt emerged as a star, winning the 1-meter and 3-meter dives at NESCACs. Schmidt also placed sixth in the 3-meter competition at NCAAs to snag All-American honors. Meanwhile, graduating senior Trevor Stack received the four-year high-point award for diving at NESCACs.
Several swimmers set Tufts records, including the 400-yard freestyle relay team of rising juniors Owen Rood and E.J. Testa and graduating seniors Zed Debbaut and Michael Del Moro; Testa in the 50-yard backstroke; and Del Moro, who is also a news editor for the Daily, in the 100-yard backstroke.
The Jumbos won five of eight head-to-head meets, beating Bates, Conn. College, Middlebury, Wesleyan and Wheaton, as well as placing third out of six teams at the MIT Invitational.
Women's Swimming and Diving
The women's swimming and diving team set a goal of finishing third at the NESCAC Championships. After a season marked by numerous personal records and impressive performances, the Jumbos did just that.
Graduating senior tri-captain Megan Kono enjoyed many of the team's best individual efforts, including a school-record time of 1:54 in the 200-yard freestyle at the Div. III National Championships. Kono also excelled in long-distance freestyle races throughout the season, winning three events at a dual meet against Wheaton to secure NESCAC Performer of the Week honors on Jan. 31.
A strong group of freshmen also helped the Jumbos earn a 4-4 record in their meets. Rising sophomore Sami Bloom was terrific off the diving board, consistently placing in the top spots in both the 1- and 3-meter events. Meanwhile, rising sophomore Jenny Hu had a strong campaign in the breaststroke, including two top-three finishes at the NESCAC championships.
In perhaps the most exciting race of the winter — the 400-yard medley relay against Wheaton in the final meet of the season at Hamilton Pool — rising senior Courtney Adams swam an outstanding freestyle leg, propelling the Jumbos to a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
Men's Indoor Track and Field
The men's indoor track and field team took fifth at the New England Div. III Championships, a downgrade from a third-place finish in 2010. After losing some big contributors to graduation last spring, the majority of points scored for the Jumbos at the regional meet were by freshmen or sophomores, showing the incredible young talent on the squad.
At the All-New England Championships in late February, rising junior Jeff Marvel and rising senior Connor Rose both shattered the 17-year-old 800-meter record — Marvel in 1:52.12 and Rose in 1:52.44. Both marks were good enough to send the two to NCAAs in the 800-meter, where Rose's and Marvel's times in the preliminaries were 10th and 12th, respectively, just short of moving on to the finals. Rose is also a senior staff writer for the Daily.
The Jumbos' Distance Medley Relay (DMR) also had an impressive showing indoors at Boston University's Valentine Invitational. The foursome of rising sophomores Jamie Norton and Graham Beutler and rising juniors Marvel and Sam Haney ranked 15th nationally and narrowly missed earning an NCAA bid. The young squad carried its training into the spring, looking to improve on its times during the outdoor season.
Women's Indoor Track and Field
Throughout the winter, the women's track and field team focused on improving every week they competed. The Jumbos were able to do just that, saving their best performances for the championship season. As a team, the women finished third at the Div. III New England Championships and second at the ECAC Championships.
The Jumbos were able to send seven individual athletes to the NCAA Championships in Ohio, many of whom excelled on the national stage. Rising senior Nakeisha Jones finished sixth in the triple jump at NCAAs, earning the lone All-American honor for the Jumbos.
The Distance Medley Relay (DMR) had an excellent showing at ECACs, where they ran an 11:52.87, qualifying them for NCAAs. The team of rising sophomores Laura Peterson and Jana Hieber and graduating seniors Kaylee Maykranz and Amy Wilfert had a ninth-place championship finish, less than five seconds shy of All-American honors. Wilfert also ran a 4:55.80 in the mile to qualify her individually and finished 10th in the preliminaries of the mile at NCAAs.
Rising seniors Dayorsha Collins and Heather Theiss also represented the Jumbos at NCAAs. Collins finished 15th in the high jump and Theiss finished 14th in the pole vault.
Fencing
Under first-year head coach Ariana Klinkov, the women's fencing team had a tumultuous season that culminated in five individual berths to the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships.
After sending four fencers to the Northeast Regional Championships in 2010, the Jumbos have something to boast about once again in 2011 as two fencers, including rising sophomore standout Julia Hisey, placed in the top 20 in New England. In addition to Hisey's 19th-place finish in the women's sabre competition, the women's fencing team sent rising junior Abigail Hepworth, rising senior Sarah Danly and graduating senior captains Georgia Ranes and Coryn Wolk to the competition. Ranes was the only other Jumbo to crack the top 20, placing 17th in the women's epee competition.
Although the team ended the season with a losing record overall, the wins and losses don't entirely reflect the progress made throughout the season. After starting out with some close losses early on, the team put together a string of impressive wins to close out the season, defeating Queens College, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Fairleigh Dickinson University the weekend before Regionals.
