Box Score
MEDFORD - The Tufts field hockey team secured the #2 seed in the upcoming NESCAC Championship tournament with a resounding 3-1 victory over Bowdoin on Wednesday night at Bello Field.
The visiting Polar Bears entered the game ranked #3 in the nation, while Tufts was #8. The three goals scored by the Jumbos were the most allowed by Bowdoin this season. The hosts finished with a 13-4 advantage in shots and 11-3 in penalty corners.
The Jumbos have now won 13 straight games since losing their season-opener to Middlebury. Tufts is 13-1 overall and finished 9-1 in NESCAC. Bowdoin, which saw an eight-game winning streak end, dropped to 12-2 and 8-2 in the league.
First-year Dakota Sikes-Keilp (Montclair, NJ) picked a great time to score her first collegiate goal for Tufts, redirecting a blast by sophomore Maggie Chapman (St. Louis, MO) during a corner attempt to put Tufts up 1-0 17 minutes into the game.
Bowdoin senior goalie Kayla Lessard (Enfield, CT) would make four saves in the first half to help keep the deficit at one, including two back-to-back chances by Jumbo junior Emily Cannon (Atkinson, NH) on another corner late in the period.
Just two minutes into the second half, the Jumbos took advantage of another penalty corner. Lia Sagerman (LaJolla, CA), one of five players honored on Seniors Night for Tufts, was at the post to knock in the rebound of a shot by Cannon to give the Jumbos a 2-0 margin.
Having given up just six goals total entering the game, Bowdoin found itself in an unfamiliar position and did something about it. They cut the lead in half in the 42nd minute when junior Lauren Schroeder (Milwaukee, WI) drove a perfect ball from the far right side of the field into the middle where senior co-captain Cathleen Smith (Larchmont, NY) rapped it home to pull the Polar Bears within 2-1. The goal was the 11th of the season for Smith.
However, barely a minute later, the Jumbos capitalized on a corner for the third time to go up 3-1. Junior leading scorer Chelsea Yogerst (San Diego, CA) tallied her ninth of the fall off an assist from senior co-captain Rachel Gerhardt (Worcester, MA).
The Jumbos finished off the win by earning advantages of 8-1 in shots and 9-2 in corners for the second half. Lessard recorded nine saves, while Jumbo sophomore Brianna Keenan (Greenland, NH) had two.
The field for the NESCAC Championship has not yet been announced. Both Tufts and Bowdoin (#3 seed) will host quarterfinal games on Saturday with 1 pm start times.
Game statistics
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