Tufts succumbs to defeat by Middlebury

The third-seeded Jumbos were unable to avenge their regular season defeat against the Panthers, as they fell 4-1 to the three-time defending champions in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday at Bowdoin.

Tufts came into the game on the back of a victory over Trinity last weekend, while Middlebury had beaten Hamilton in their own quarterfinal. The Jumbos thus end the year with an overall 11-6 record after making their fourth consecutive semi-final appearance at the conference championship.

The Jumbos had worked toward improvement on their performance from the previous weekend.

“We were expecting this game to be totally different than our first game against Middlebury...because this one was played on AstroTurf,” senior defender Alexandra Jamison said. “We were definitely excited to get another chance to play them, and we spent the week traveling to different Boston schools to practice on AstroTurf, which really helped get us excited for the weekend since the game is so much faster on Astro.”

Tufts started out with an attacking mindset, with an early penalty corner from senior tri-captain midfielder Maggie Chapman and a shot by senior midfielder Dakota Sikes-Kilep. In the opening 16 minutes, the Jumbos earned four penalty corners, but were unable to convert any of them.

Middlebury punished Tufts for its focus on offense with its second penalty corner in the 24th minute. Junior forward Pam Schulman passed right to find senior forward Bridget Instrum off sophomore defender Caroline Knapp’s penalty corner. A neat one-two move then put Schulman back in, and she made no mistake to give Middlebury the advantage in the game.

From there, the momentum shifted toward the Panthers; Instrum recorded her second assist just eight minutes later. A determined dribble by Instrum down the left granted her space to lift the ball into the air for first-year forward Molly Freeman to score Middlebury’s second goal.

"It was more frustrating than anything to be down 2-0 to them at halftime, especially since we dominated the first 20 minutes of play and had good scoring opportunities presented to us but failed to capitalize on them,” junior tri-captain forward Dominique Zarrella said.

Down two goals, the Jumbos did not let up, even with the score against them. Tufts had the best chances in the final minutes of the first half, as junior midfielder Elle Chrupcala’s shot beat Middlebury junior goalkeeper Emily Miller but could not get past senior defender Jillian Green, who protected her team’s two-goal advantage by clearing the ball off the line.

“We mostly just tried to keep the morale up and focus on the fact that, while we were down two goals, the game was actually very even in terms of shots and penalty corners, but we just weren't converting them into goals,” Jamison said. “I don't think we came out of halftime badly, but we also didn't come out much differently from the first half, which was hard.”

Tufts started the second half with similar intent, earning two penalty corners, but two shots from Chapman early on were denied. The first was denied by Miller, and when the second one found a way past her, it was denied by an outstanding defensive save from senior defender Shannon Hutteman. Almost a minute later, Middlebury sophomore midfielder Annie Leonard scored off a good pass by first-year midfielder Grace Jennings in a scrum to put the score at 3-0 Middlebury. Fifty-two minutes in, Leonard then made an impressive individual play to score the Panthers’ fourth goal.

The Jumbos continued to look for ways to score, but could not break down the solid Panthers defense. When Zarrella got a shot away, she was denied once again by Green. However, Tufts finally found a way through right at the end. Following a series of fouls on the Jumbos, first-year forward/midfielder Hanaa Malik, who only came onto the field four minutes prior, scored off a penalty corner by Chapman on the last play of the match, as Middlebury advanced to the NESCAC finals.

Tufts outshot Middlebury 11-10 overall, but trailed Middlebury 9-6 on shots on goal. First-year goalkeeper Emily Polinski made five saves for the Jumbos. With the defeat, the Jumbos now await an at-large bid to the NCAA Div. III tournament.

“As a team we fought hard throughout the whole game, and I was proud of the way we played, and I definitely don't think the score reflected the game itself,” Zarrella said. “We had some really good scoring chances, but Middlebury made three really impressive defensive saves which kept us off the board for most of the game. Going forward, we now know how seriously important it is to take advantage of scoring opportunities that are given to us … If we had taken advantage of the opportunities given to us within the first 20 minutes of the half, it would have been an entirely different game.”

Reflecting on the season so far as a whole, senior forward Hannah Park is excited for the prospects of the team moving forward.

“This has been a wonderful and competitive team to play for, as every single member is very talented,” Park said. “They are all fantastic field hockey players and…I can't wait to watch them grow even more. I know everyone will work hard in the off-season and be prepared to show what Tufts field hockey is capable of.”