Jumbos pick up momentum with close wins over spring break

Tufts' current senior class has beaten every other NESCAC team except for Trinity. Until this Saturday, that is.

In a true nail-biter, the No. 11 women's lacrosse team failed No. 10 Trinity 10-9 on Saturday in front of a home crowd at Bello Field. Leading 8-7 through the first half, the Jumbos allowed the Bantams to score two goals unanswered, and with just under nine minutes left in the game, Trinity led 9-8. However, senior tri-captain Brigid Bowser forced a key turnover to gain possession around the two-minute mark. Rising to the occasion, first-year midfielder Gabby Vinci cut towards the goal and evened the score at 1:26 on an assist from senior tri-captain Caroline Ross. First-year Cecily Freliech earned the Jumbos possession on the draw control, and with 13 seconds left in the game, Ross launched a shot at the Trinity goal that found the back of the net. In that single moment, Ross and the Jumbos accomplished what neither she nor her teammates had ever experienced -- beating Trinity.

The win avenged last year's NESCAC semifinals 8-7 loss to Trinity in overtime, making it even more special for senior tri-captain Jaymi Cohen.

"Trinity lacrosse is a very well-respected program," Cohen told the Daily in an email. "Especially after our one-goal loss to Trinity in overtime last year, we were hungry for this win. Trinity was the only NESCAC team that our senior class has not beat in our years playing at Tufts. Our program also has not beat this team in a few years, so it was about time. We wanted this win not only for our current team but for our alums and program in its entirety."

Despite only winning six first-half draw controls to Trinity's 10, the Jumbos dominated possession in an offensively oriented first half. Junior Emma Malicki scored the first goal of the game to put Trinity up 1-0  just over a minute into the contest. But Ross answered back for the Jumbos on a free position shot two minutes later. The teams traded goals until sophomore Calie Nowak, first-year Annie Sullivan and Bowser scored three straight to put Tufts up 5-3. Freleich's successful free position shot with 53 seconds remaining in the half earned Tufts its largest lead of the game at 8-5.

Before the halftime intermission, though, sophomore Allie Barrett brought Trinity within two with 21 seconds remaining and junior Karly Simpson further ate into the Jumbo lead when she scored with just eight seconds on the clock. Although the Jumbos had led since the 10-minute mark, and by as many as three, they went into halftime up by just one. Still, they would go on to earn the win in a hard-fought second half.

Ross finished the game with two goals and four assists, including the game-winning score, and earned NESCAC Women's Lacrosse Player of the Week honors for her effort.

"I’m very flattered, but it was a team game. I think eight different people scored goals, and that’s what we’ve been working for — to play as a team, have lots of assisted goals and get everyone involved on attack," Ross said.

So far this season, the Jumbos have received a powerful boost from their captains, the only seniors on the team. Cohen anchors the Jumbo defense and is tied for second on the team in ground balls with seven. The Jumbos have 28 assists on the season, and Ross leads the team with a whopping 13. She is well on track to beat the team record of 19 assists that she set last season. Behind Ross are sophomore Taylor Meek with four and Bowser with three. Ross also leads the team in scoring with 19 goals, and again Bowser and Meek follow with 18 and 13 respectively. Bowser leads the Jumbos in ground balls, draw controls and caused turnovers by significant margins.

Tufts got off to a slow start this season, dropping three straight from March 12 to 18, including losses to NESCAC opponents No. 2 Middlebury and No. 9 Colby. Sporting a 2-3 record coming into their game against Stevenson last Thursday and going down 7-3 in the first half, the team felt the pressure of another loss looming.

Bowser put the Jumbos on the board early against the Stevenson Mustangs, but junior Olivia Monteiro answered back on a free position shot. Roughly seven minutes later Ross earned the Jumbos another goal on her own free position shot, but her goal was followed by three Stevenson scores in as many minutes. Junior Brady Heher scored twice in a row, and Monteiro capitalized on another free position shot. Freliech ended the run on yet another free position shot, bringing the score to 4-3. Stevenson, however, ended the half strong, scoring another three goals, two of which came from Heher and Monteiro. Stevenson's junior duo combined for six first-half scores, and Monteiro tallied the only assist of the first half on Heher's third goal. Tufts went into the break down 7-3.

"We came out really slow in the first half," Ross said. "We weren’t going to goal hard enough, not creating enough on offense and turning the ball over a lot in the first half. We just didn’t come out with a lot of energy and ended up down. In the second half, we kind of turned it on, picked up the energy, picked up the intensity, and we definitely knew that we weren’t going to lose that game. I think we had that mindset that that was a must win for our confidence and for our season in general."

The Jumbos refocused for the second half and shut Heher and Monteiro down for the remainder of the game. With her team clearly reenergized, Bowser assisted on a Meek goal just ten seconds into the second half. Bowser scored her own goal at 23:35, and 34 seconds later first-year Courtney Grygiel cut to the net and finished a Ross assist. Stevenson ran the score back up to 10-7, but the Jumbos scored four unanswered in the final 17 minutes to seal the comeback win. Sophomore Jenn Duffy tied the game just before the 13-minute mark and junior Caroline Kingsley scored the game winner with just under eight minutes remaining. The much-needed win snapped the Jumbos' three-game losing streak and brought them back to .500 on the season.

Against Colby on Friday, March 18, the Jumbos started slow, giving up eight first-half goals while only notching three. They were unable to battle back in the second half as both teams scored five, but they did demonstrate an ability to compete evenly against strong competition. Bowser and Meek each scored twice in the second half, carrying the Jumbo offense. Ross finished with one goal, the first of the game, and three assists, again taking on the role of facilitator.

"We definitely did not play our best lacrosse against Colby," Cohen said. "They are a very good team, but we decided that we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard on the field. We played a much better game against Stevenson, and we saw everything start to come together. And then, in our game against Trinity, we were finally playing as a team. Everybody contributed all over the field from the defensive end through the midfield and up to the attack. The major difference in the Trinity game was that we finally were connecting well and successfully playing as a team on the field."

First-year goalie Audrey Evers is second in the NESCAC in saves on the season with 67 -- just one behind the conference leader, senior tri-captain Hannah Jeffery of No. 13 Bates. Evers saved eight shots against Colby, 12 of 22 against Stevenson and seven of 16 in the Trinity game. Ross pointed to Evers' play as a highlight of the three games.

"Audrey, our goalie, is playing very well," Ross said. "As a [first-year] coming in, Audrey has stepped in and played better than I ever expected and more than we could ask of her, so she’s been doing a great job for us and is a huge leader on the field as a [first-year], which is great."

Going forward, Tufts hopes to continue its two game win streak when they travel to play Keene State at 6 p.m. tonight.