Fall and Winter Recaps

Football

With a 7-1 record -- their best performance as a program since 1998 -- the Jumbos finished as the NESCAC runners up. In doing so, the members of the senior class completed a remarkable turnaround from their 0-8 mark during their first season here. Tufts was undefeated at the Ellis Oval, with their only away defeat coming in an overtime loss to eventual NESCAC champions Trinity (8-0). Notably, Tufts beat Amherst (4-4) for the first time since 2007.All told, the Jumbos scored 40 points three times, the first time the program has accomplished such a feat in at least three decades.

Graduating senior tri-captain running back Chance Brady led the way for the men from Medford. The two-time NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year set new NESCAC single-season records for touchdowns (17) and points scored (114), as well as Tufts records for single-game touchdowns (5), single-season rushing yards (1,099), career rushing yards (2,692), and career touchdowns (35). Including Brady, six Jumbos were named to the All-NESCAC First Team, including two other graduating seniors: offensive lineman Jack Price and punter Willie Holmquist. Rising sophomore linebacker Greg Holt also earned Rookie of the Year honors.

19 seniors will graduate this May, 11 of whom started in the 48-35 victory over Middlebury (6-2) in the season finale.

Women's Cross Country

The Jumbos kicked off their 2016 season with an impressive win at the four-team Bates Invitational. Tufts showed its speed, beating Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Wellesley in addition to the hosts, Bates. Tufts put five runners in the top 10 of the race, led by rising senior Brittany Bowman.

Bowman and rising junior Natalie Bettez were among the Jumbos to put up strong showings at the NESCAC Championships. Bettez finished second in the race, followed closely by Bowman in seventh.

Bowman continued her dominance throughout the outdoor season, finishing as Tufts’ top runner in numerous events. She capped off her strong performance in the season with an 18th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Bowman was one of seven runners from Tufts participating alongside graduating seniors Kelly Fahey, Samantha Cox, Alice Wasserman and Lindsey Atkeson and Bettez and rising junior Kelsey Tierney. Tufts finished eighth in the Div. III Championships, its third-best finish since the 2006 season.

Men's Cross Country

The Jumbos put up a number of impressive performances during the cross country season. Graduating senior co-captains Tim Nichols and Luke O'Connor led the way, as the team claimed second place in its first event of the year at the Bates Invitational.

The Jumbos struggled in their next two events, finishing 14th and 25th at the Purple Valley Classic and the Paul Short Invitationals, respectively. The team bounced back at the James Earley Invitational, claiming second of 41 participating teams.

The Jumbos finished in the top five of every other event in which they participated, culminating in a third-place finish at the NESCAC Championships, ahead of a fifth-place showing at New England Regionals.

Though the team did not place at nationals, Nichols finished third in the event with a time of 24:09.7. The only other Jumbo in attendance, O'Connor, finished 20th with a time of 24:42.4.  Along with the captains, the Jumbos graduate Michael Caughron and Chris Warren from their four-man senior class.

Women's Soccer

Tufts bettered marginally its 6-8-2 record from the previous year, moving to 7-6-3 this year. The team also had a stronger NESCAC campaign, improving to 5-4-1 (compared to last year's 4-5-1). Part of the team’s superior record can be attributed to the change in formation to 3-5-2 by coach Martha Whiting, allowing the Jumbos to play with two strikers to give them more offensive threat.

The statistics prove the change was effective: Tufts scored 24 goals this year in its 16 games, up from 14 last year. The team also remained solid at the back, conceding just 17 goals and allowing 14.4 shots per game, down from 18 goals conceded and 15.7 shots per game last year. Particular highlights for the team include three thumping victories, all of which occurred on Kraft Field: 5-2 over Bates (5-9-1), 4-0 over Endicott (13-4-2) and 3-0 over Emerson (10-10). However, the team fell at the same stage of the NESCAC Tournament as it had the year before, losing 1-0 to Trinity (11-5-4) in the quarterfinals.

The team graduates six seniors: co-captain defender Alexa Pius, co-captain midfielder Robin Estus, midfielder Brooke Fortin, defender Stefanie Brunswick, forward Jess Capone and midfielder Sarah Pykkonen. Due to her strong performances, Estus was named to the All-NESCAC Second Team. 

In 2017, Tufts will look to build on the rookie seasons of defender Tally Clark and midfielders Ashley Latona and Jenna Troccoli, all of whom impressed with their performances on the field.

Men's Soccer

Against all odds, the Jumbos won the national championship for the second time in three years. Despite a 0-2-1 record at the beginning of the season, the Jumbos then went on to generate a 15-5-2 record and closed out the season with six straight NCAA wins to secure the championship.

In the NCAA tournament, five of six wins were shutouts, including the final, which went to double overtime after neither team scored. The deadlock in the Championship was eventually broken by rising senior midfielder Tyler Kulcsar in the 103rd minute to win the title for the Jumbos.

In the NESCAC, Tufts finished the regular season with a 6-2-2 record, tying Colby and Hamilton and losing to Bowdoin and Wesleyan. Unfortunately, after being seeded second in the NESCAC, they bowed out in the quarterfinals of the tournament in back-to-back regular and postseason games to Bowdoin.

Other highlights of the season include beating Amherst -- defending national champions at the time -- at home 3-0 on Oct. 1. Only a week later, the Jumbos defeated the Middlebury Panthers 2-0, ending their 16-game unbeaten streak.Both teams were ranked in the national top 20 at the time.

The senior class gave outstanding performances throughout the season. Co-captain midfielder Zach Halliday, defender Daniel Sullivan and forward Gaston Becherano all earned 2016 All-New England Region honors.Goalkeeper Scott Greenwood was named D3Soccer.com Goalkeeper of the Year and first-team All American, while Sullivan was named to the All-American second team. Tufts is the only team in the nation with two players named to the top two All-American squads.

Field Hockey

No. 3 Tufts field hockey (19-3 overall, 8-2 NESCAC) came as close as a team can get to a national title, falling 2-1 in penalty shootouts to Messiah College -- the nation’s top-ranked team -- in the NCAA Championship game on Nov. 20. The Jumbo defense, which ranked second in Div. III averaging 0.57 goals against per game, carried the team for most of the season and especially throughout its postseason run.

Tufts shut out Messiah’s No. 1-ranked offense, which averaged 4.61 goals per game, through 70 minutes of regular time and two 15-minute overtime periods. This feat followed shutouts against the University of New England’s No. 3-ranked scoring offense in the second round of the NCAA tournament and against Salisbury’s No. 4-ranked scoring offense in the semifinals.

Despite the tough loss in the national championships, the Jumbos still finished the regular season seeded first in the NESCAC and claimed the program’s second conference title on Nov. 6 on Ounjian Field, which finished construction in early September in time for the team’s home opener. Practicing and playing home games on Astroturf instead of on regular turf as in years past seems to have made a big difference for the Jumbos, as they went 11-1 on Ounjian and recorded nine of their 14 shutouts at home.

Though the team is losing just three graduating seniors — Annie Artz and co-captains Dominique Zarrella and Nicole Arata — those losses are critical. Arata anchored the team’s dominant defense, Zarrella led the team in scoring in 2014 and 2015 and Artz led the team in scoring this season. Still, with a strong core of the team returning, Tufts is poised to remain a top-five team this fall.

Volleyball

The Tufts Women’s Volleyball team went 27-4 (10-0 in conference) on the season, advancing to the elite eight of the NCAA Div. III national championships before they were eliminated by Southwestern (Texas) in a thrilling five set match. This was just the second time in program history that the Jumbos have advanced that far in postseason play. Despite the 10-0 record in regular season conference play, the Jumbos were unable to capture the elusive conference title, falling to Middlebury in the NESCAC final.

The team was powered by a few senior stars accompanied by a wealth of talented underclassmen. Senior middle hitter tri-captain Elizabeth Ahrens and senior middle hitter McKenzie Humann at the end of the season were awarded All-American honorable mention and AVCA All-Region honorable mention, respectively. Ahrens was second on the team in kills for the season, behind starting first-year outside hitter Brigid Bell.

Bell, along with libero Kelly Klimo, were two first-year players who started and starred for the Jumbos all season long, along with right side hitter Christian Nwankpa, right side hitter Maddie Stewart and setter Rachel Furash. Nwankpa, Stewart and Furash all also saw consistent time throughout the season, forming a strong base for the team going forward. The sophomore class was strong as well, with starting setter Angela Yu leading the team in assists with 680 on the season and starting outside hitter Mackenzie Bright coming in third on the team for kills.

The team graduates three players this season. Along with their middle tandem of Ahrens and Humann, senior outside hitter Mary Maccabee graduates as well.

 

Women's Basketball

In her 15th season in charge of the Jumbos, coach Carla Berube had much to be proud of. The team made its second consecutive appearance in the national championship game on the back of a 30-3 season, an improvement from last year’s 28-4 record. The Jumbos were also more prolific this year -- putting up 61.8 points per game, up from 59.9 -- with rising senior forward Melissa Baptista leading the way with 12.5 points per game.

The run to the championship game was marked by an outstanding comeback against previously undefeated St. Thomas (31-1) in the Final Four match-up. With 5:30 to go in the fourth quarter, trailing by 12, Baptista and fellow rising senior guard Lauren Dillon led the way to an incredible 60-57 victory. However, Tufts was denied a first women’s basketball national championship by Amherst (33-0) in a 52-29 defeat in Grand Rapids, Mich. Amherst was the only team to have defeated Tufts this season.

Senior tri-captain Michela North graduates from the program as its all-time leading scorer with 1,568 points, a healthy 146 points more than the previous top scorer, guard Colleen Hart (E '11). Graduating alongside North are forward Katy Hicks and fellow tri-captain Josie Lee. Dillon capped off an outstanding year by being named the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year, while Baptista joined North on the All-NESCAC First Team and the All-American Third Team.

 

Men’s Basketball

The men’s basketball team (22-7) had a superb season, ranking tenth overall in Div. III. An 8-2 in-conference record earned the team the NESCAC regular season title.

Tufts won its first game in the NESCAC tournament against Hamilton before falling to No. 5 Williams in the semifinals. After qualifying with an at-large bid, Tufts made it to the second weekend of the Div. III NCAA Tournament with victories over Salem State (17-11) and No. 25 St. John Fisher (23-6). In the Sweet Sixteen, however, the Jumbos fell to eventual national champions Babson (31-2), 87-80. In doing so, the team matched the 2005-06 squad’s tournament run for the second-best showing in program history.

Despite missingpart of the season after dislocating his kneecap, graduating senior tri-captain center Tom Palleschi completed his career with numerous entries in the program’s record book, including the most blocks (270), eighth-most rebounds (682) and thirteenth-most career points (1,218). Graduating senior tri-captain guard Tarik Smith earned All-NESCAC Second Team honors and finished his Tufts career with the eighth-most assists (363) and the seventeenth-most points (1,115).

Graduating senior tri-captain center Drew Madsen also contributed important minutes and rebounds to the team’s success. Rising senior guard Vincent Pace responded well from last season’s knee injury, while rising senior guard KJ Garrett shone in a sixth-man role. Among the rookies, rising sophomore guard Eric Savage showed significant promise as a scorer and a passer.

 

Ice Hockey

After a tumultuous battle to qualify for a playoff seed, the team clinched sixth and advanced to the NESCAC quarterfinals, falling to long-time rival Trinity in a 4-1 loss. The Jumbos finished the regular season with an 11-11-3 overall record and a 9-8-1 conference record. Tufts hockey will graduate six seniors this year, including tri-captains Mike Leary and Sean Kavanagh, goaltender Mason Pulde, forwards Patrick Lackey and Conal Lynch and forward/defender Matt Pugh.Lynch scored the team’s lone goal in the Trinity contest in his final career game.

The team had many upsets this season, most notably the 3-1 win over Trinity — last year’s conference champions — in the season opener. Later in the season, the team retaliated after a 4-0 loss to Bowdoin to defeat then highly-ranked Colby 3-1 the next day. In the fourth-to-last regular season game, the team defeated Amherst to end a winless 18-game streak in the series; the last Tufts victory against Amherst came in Feb. 2005. 

In his final season, Kavanagh broke the program record for most games played at 101 games. Pulde had an outstanding season as well with a .934 save percentage totaling 340 saves and 24 goals against. After Pulde’s last collegiate season was cut short due to an ACL tear, rising senior goaltender Nik Nugnes took over the net with similar success, averaging a .936 save percentage and totaling 442 saves.

Rising senior forward Brian Brown lead the team in scoring with nine goals, followed closely by rising sophomore Anthony Farinacci, who totaled seven goals. While the team will lose six players who were crucial to the hockey program, the performances from the rising sophomores over the course of the season show promise for next year.

 

Fencing

It was a tale of two halves for the Jumbos during the 2017 season. The Jumbos opened the season facing a brutal stretch of top-notch opponents, falling to 0-8 in the process, but they rebounded to win five of their last six regular season matches. What’s more, the team rode its momentum to a fourth-place finish at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) Championships in early March, and eight Tufts fencers qualified for NCAA Regionals later that month.

A key to the Jumbos’ success was their well-balanced lineup, as they routinely received strong contributions from all three weapons. The epee squad was buoyed by rising senior Grace Tellado and graduating senior co-captains Chandler Coble and Anna Gooch, all of whom qualified for NCAA Regionals.

The sabre squad was led by rising seniors Bridget Marturano and Nayab Ajaz. Marturano led all Jumbos in winning percentage (.767) during the regular season. Finally, the foil squad received strong seasons from graduating senior Juliet Hewes and sophomore Zoe Howard. After winning four of five pool play bouts, Hewes advanced to the knockout round at NEIFC Championships where she finished fourth overall.

Coble, Gooch, Hewes and senior foilist Rebecca Lachs depart a program that has grown immensely over the past four years. While their contributions will be sorely missed, they leave behind a young team that is in a good position to continue to improve.



Women's Squash

This winter, the Jumbos earned the No. 19 ranking at the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships, improving on their previous year’s ranking of No. 23 and earning one of their most successful seasons in program history. In competition for the Walker Cup, Tufts secured its top-20 ranking, then finished the season 17-7 overall and dropped no home matches. The Jumbos entered the NESCAC Championship seeded sixth but fell 7-2 to the ninth-seeded Colby Mules in the consolation round.

The team was led by rising senior captain Claudia Udolf and comprised of four rising seniors, seven rising juniors and four rising sophomores.

The rising sophomores proved to be crucial to the Jumbos' overall success this season, as two of them were named to the all-NESCAC team -- the most players in program history. Rising sophomore Claire Davidson was named to the first team after holding the first position for Tufts throughout much of the season and was named the Harrow Sports Player of the Week in December. Fellow rising sophomore Catherine Shanahan was named to the second All-NESCAC team and held down the third position for Tufts nearly all year.  

Rising junior Sahana Karthik earned a spot on the winter NESCAC All-Sportsmanship team and was another key contributor to the Jumbos' successful season. Rising seniors Lauren Banner and Gabi Salomon as well as rising junior Olivia Ladd-Luthringshauser were named to the NESCAC winter all-academic team, proving their success in the classroom and on the team.

With such a young team composition and no graduating seniors, the Jumbos have an excellent shot of repeating and improving on their success next season.

 

Men's Squash

The Jumbos dominated the first portion of their season, winning all but one of their first eight matches. The Jumbos struggled, however, in January, going 4-5 in their matches during the month.

The Jumbos' season culminated in the Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) Championships, hosted by MIT. The Jumbos defeated Hamilton 5-4 in their first match of the weekend, behind wins from rising juniors Alan Litman, Imran Trehan and Aiden Porges and rising sophomores Raghav Kumar and Connor Wind. Wind, Kumar and Litman all claimed their matches decisively after three games.

In the next match of the CSA tournament, five Jumbos fell in three-game matches. While Trehan pushed his match with rising sophomore Christian Escalona to four games, he ultimately fell (11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 11-1).

Tufts then faced Bowdoin in the final match of the tournament for the Jumbos. The team then fell 6-3 in the most lopsided match of the weekend. Kumar, Trehan and rising sophomore Amun Sahrawat won their matches but could not bouy the Jumbos past the Polar Bears.

 

Women's Swimming and Diving

The women’s swimming and diving team finished the season tied for 46th in Div. III, anchored by performances from graduating senior captain Amanda Gottschalk and rising junior Colleen Doolan.

Both Doolan and Gottschalk have been team leaders throughout the season, and this is the second consecutive season in which the two have represented the Jumbos at the NCAA competition.

The Jumbos placed 20th overall in the 3-meter diving, with graduating senior diver Kylie Reiman earning 17th overall in the 1-meter diving at the NCAA diving Regional Championship and fell just short of qualifying for NCAA Div. III Championships. Over the course of her career, Reiman competed in four NESCAC Championships and three NCAA Regional Championships.

The Jumbos ended their regular season with a winning 4-3 dual-meet record — a goal they had focused on from the beginning of the season. Notable meets included a third place finish at an MIT Invitational in December and wins against Middlebury in December and Wheaton in January.  

The team finished eighth out of 11 at NESCAC championships, trailing seventh-place Wesleyan by only 50.5 points and leading ninth-place Hamilton by over 300. Four seniors are graduating: Reiman and tri-captains Gottschalk, Sophia Lin and Sarah Elghor.

 

Men's Swimming and Diving

The Jumbos finished the season as the 14th best team in Div. III, according to the Div. III rankings. The team was partly led by graduating senior tri-captain and star diver Matt Rohrer.

Rohrer finished his collegiate career with a strong performance at the NCAA Championships. Rohrer earned All-American honors in both the one-meter dive and the three-meter dive events, which makes him a six-time All-American in four appearances at nationals. Another Jumbo to earn All-American honors was rising junior Kingsley Bowen. The swimmer was recognized as an All-American in the 200-yard backstroke, the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly. Other Jumbos earning All-American honors included rising seniors Zach Wallace, James McElduff, Lorenzo Lau and rising sophomore Roger Gu.

All of these athletes helped the Jumbos to a 10th-place finish at Nationals. Tufts scored 126 points at the four-day event. At the NESCAC Championships, the Jumbos finished behind only the first-place Ephs and the second-place Mammoths, and they finished third in the NESCAC out of 11 competing teams.