After returning to form against Connecticut College with a win on Saturday, Tufts fell short to Amherst in a back-and-forth defensive battle on Sunday. Now holding a 7–3 record, a team expecting to dominate the NESCAC has plummeted in the national rankings to seventh overall. To regain their momentum, the Jumbos need to string together a solid series of wins before the regular season ends in late April.
The team has more than enough talent and experience to climb back to the top, but it will take a fully concerted effort from the upperclassmen and head coach Courtney Shute for the Brown and Blue to make a playoff run. Junior midfielder Caroline Walter, who scored eight goals over the course of the weekend, commented on the team’s outlook moving forward.
“We obviously haven’t been expecting to lose as many games as we have,” Walter said. “But I think that we never want to be playing our best lacrosse in March or early April; we would rather be playing our best lacrosse towards the end of May.”
Tufts took care of Connecticut College with a fluid and aggressive offensive game plan that ultimately secured them a 14-goal victory. The Jumbos scored five goals in the first quarter to set the tone for the rest of the game. Senior midfielder Kathryn Delaney started off the scoring around the 11-minute mark with a free-position goal, and the flood gates opened as four different Tufts players found the bottom of the net in the same quarter.
Delaney jump-started the Jumbos’ offense in the second quarter as well by scoring a goal less than 30 seconds into the period. The freshman duo of midfielder Caroline Conaghan and attacker Margie Carden kept the momentum going, notching the next two goals and building the lead to 8–2. The Jumbos finished the second quarter up 12–4.
The Camels’ offense came out the second half lifeless, as they only managed to scrape together three goals for the remainder of the game. The Jumbos, meanwhile, kept their foot on the gas with Walter in the driver’s seat scoring a hat trick in the second half alone. Walter noted what went right for her during this outstanding performance, where she netted five goals in total as the Jumbos unloaded on the Camels, giving themselves a much needed 21–7 conference win.
“On Saturday, we just had a lot of momentum and things that were working. I just randomly had a hot hand, and you know, when it’s working, you don’t really try to fix it,” Walter said.
The Sunday matchup against Amherst went differently as both teams fought vigorously to gain a lead. The Mammoths eventually came out ahead with a 9–8 win on a disappointing day for the Jumbos. The first quarter went in favor of Tufts which had a 3–2 lead going into the second. Kathryn Delaney was the first Jumbo to score, and senior midfielder Anna Clarke added two more in the first 15 minutes. However, their lead was short-lived, as the Mammoths fired back with two goals of their own while holding the Jumbos to zero goals in the second period. Tufts won the third quarter as Walter and first-year attacker Kate Mastrobuono scored to tie the game up 5–5.
The fourth quarter featured most of the game’s action as Amherst took a quick two-goal advantage, bringing the score to 7–5. The Jumbos — led by Walter — battled back again to tie the game up at 7–7 with just five minutes left in regulation. The Mammoths then took another lead in what looked like a game-winning goal with about four minutes left. However, Walter took charge and scored an unassisted goal to bring it even at eight goals apiece and give the Jumbos a chance to win in overtime.
Although it looked as though Tufts had the momentum, Amherst ultimately emerged victorious as they scored with 36 seconds left in extra minutes.
“In those situations where we necessarily aren’t supposed to be tied or losing, we get a little frantic,” Walter said. “It was definitely a frustrating game.”
The Jumbos showed perseverance throughout the tightly-contested Amherst game on Sunday. Next, they play Bates on Wednesday in an important conference matchup.
