Courtesy Tufts Sports Information

ONEONTA, N.Y. – Today's NCAA Div. III sectional championship was played to a draw between host Oneonta State and Tufts University and had to be decided by a shoot out. The Jumbos prevailed over the Red Dragons 4-3 to move on to next weekend's national championship final four in Greensboro, N.C. beginning Friday. Tufts (15-3-2) joins The College of New Jersey, The University of Chicago and Messiah College in Greensboro. Tufts opponent in the semifinals will be TCNJ, who they played for the national championship in 2000.

"Obviously we are excited about the opportunity to play for a national championship," said Tufts coach Martha Whiting. "We certainly will have another tough game ahead, but today's game wasn't easy either. We will have to be ready to play on Friday."

In today's game the stand-out performer was Tufts senior tri-captain Lindsay Garmirian (Amherst, MA). She scored the lone goal for Tufts in the first half, made a save on the goal line in the second half and then converted the eventual winning goal during the shootout.

"We played hard as a team today," said Garmirian. "We knew Oneonta had a strong offense, but we knew if we played together we would have a chance. This was a tough game and we know that this weekend will be even harder."

Garmirian's goal came in the 26th minute of play as she was in the right place at the right time. A ball was floated into the box from the right flank where the ball was deflected on a failed clearing attempt. Garmirian was standing right where the ball settled and wasted no time in blasting a shot by the Oneonta keeper.