Tufts Moves Past Wesleyan 1-0 in First Round of Field Hockey Championship
Courtesy Tufts Sports Information
MEDFORD, Mass. - With a record-setting goal and a stone-wall defense, the Tufts field hockey team earned a 1-0 victory against Wesleyan in the first round of the 2007 NESCAC Field Hockey Championship on Sunday at Bello Field. The Jumbos, seeded second, advance to the semi-final round where they will play third seed Middlebury College on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Bowdoin.
The Tufts defense did not allow a shot by Wesleyan while recording their seventh shutout of the season. The Cardinals, whose season ended with a 7-8 record, did get two penalty corner opportunities, but were unable to take advantage of them.
Despite Wesleyan's inability to penetrate the Tufts defense, they also did a good job defensively controlling the Tufts attack. However, the Jumbos were awarded a well-positioned free hit just outside the top of the circle 13 minutes into the game. Sophomore Margi Scholtes (Grosse Pointe, MI) hit a ball that was deflected to classmate Michelle Kelly (Downington, PA), and she scored the game's only goal at 23:49. The goal was the 43rd of the season for the Jumbos, setting a new team record.
The 1982 squad had scored 42 times.
More of the same continued in the second half, as Tufts was able to stop every Wesleyan threat. At the other end, Wesleyan was preventing many good scoring chances for Tufts and sophomore keeper Breen McDonald (Shaker Heights, OH) stopped all three shots on goal she faced in the second half. She finished with seven saves overall.
Tufts managed a 13-0 advantage in shots and 13-2 in penalty corners for the game. They improved to 12-3 overall, the most wins by a Jumbo team since 1996 and tied for the second-most ever.
The Jumbos improved to 4-5 in NESCAC tournament play and will advance to their fourth semi-final. They have never played in the conference championship game.
Wesleyan, which has qualified for every NESCAC Tournament since 2000, fell to 2-8 overall in those games.
