SOMERVILLE - The #5 seed Wesleyan University Cardinals earned a 5-3 penalty-kicks victory over the #4 seed Tufts University Jumbos after the two teams played to a 1-1 draw in a NESCAC Women's Soccer Championship quarterfinal match on Saturday afternoon at Kraft Field.
Wesleyan lit up the scoreboard first in just the 13th minute. Senior Barrie Lindsay (Ipswich, MA) took a pass in the right side of the box and scored inside the near post out of the reach of Tufts sophomore keeper Kristin Wright (Austin, TX). Sophomore Kerry Doyle (North Haven, CT) had carried it into the box and picked up the assist.
The Jumbos only waited about eight minutes to tally the game-tying goal. In the 21st minute, sophomore Erin Stone (Santa Barbara, CA) took a shot from the top of the box that Wesleyan first-year keeper Jessica Tollman (Brookline, MA) made a sliding stop on. However, Tollman could not control it as it trickled free and senior Olivia Rowse (Falmouth, ME) was there to punch it in. Stone earned the helper.
Tufts almost grabbed a lead in the 37th minute when first year Alina Okamoto (Altadena, CA) stayed onside against three defenders, but Tollman came out to challenge her and made the key save.
The Jumbos out-shot the Cardinals in the first half, 11-6, forcing Tollman to make seven saves.
Tufts dominated play in the second half, out-shooting Wesleyan 14-3. Tollman made another seven saves in the second half, while her counterpart Wright stopped a pair.
In the two overtimes, the Jumbos kept the pressure on as Wesleyan was forced to play defense for the majority of the 20 minutes. Again, Tollman came up big with three saves in the periods. For the contest, the Jumbos had a 31-10 shots advantage, including 18-5 on goal. Tollman finished the 110 minutes of action with a remarkable 17 saves.
In penalty kicks, all five Wesleyan shooters would score. Lindsay, who scored the first goal of the game, put home the clincher in the fifth round. The other Cardinal shooters that scored were Doyle, first year Katy Hardt (Brookline, MA), first year Katie O'Brien (Belmont, MA) and junior Laura Kurash (Vorhees, NJ).
The three scorers for Tufts in penalty kicks were senior Lauren O'Connor (Dudley, MA), junior Alyssa Von Puttkammer (Park City, UT) and senior Laney Siegner (Chevy Chase, MD). Tollman made an all-important one save for the Cardinals.
Senior Jamie Love-Nichols (Cortez, CO) paced Tufts with five shots, including a pair on goal. Doyle and Lindsay each had three shots for Wesleyan.
Wesleyan moves to 10-5 on the season and will play in the semifinals of the NESCAC Championship next weekend. Tufts falls to 7-4-4 and will wait to see if that earns them an at-large berth to the NCAA championship.
Match statistics
#
